The 108th cycle
by Sanjima
Summary: A retelling of the warriors' third struggle with the demons army without the help of Kaguya's time travelling. Can the warriors once again prevail against the forces of evil?
1. Chapter 1: A sudden beginning

**Welcome readers. If it's okay with you, there's a few things I want to say first before you start reading this fic. First, English is not my mother tongue so please don't be mad at me if I make some grammar mistakes or making odd choices of wording. Second, like the third Warriors Orochi, this fic will have a lot of deaths, but the game was rated T so I rated this fic T, too. Finally, since the game never reveal the actual map of the land Orochi created, I will make a map of my own, I hope you can understand. Now, let the story begin.**

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Chapter 1: A sudden beginning.

CLANK!

The loud sounds of swords clashing each other violently awoke me. I hurriedly stood up and take a quick look around. I'm in the middle of a plain, a plain litters with countless lifeless corpses to be exact...

I'm clearly in the middle of a battlefield. But why am I here? My head hurts and my mind is still a little hazy, I try to recall what had happened but I can't.

"EEEEEEEE! Die you human!"

Suddenly, someone yell out loud and plunge torward me with a sword in hand.

" Lord Masamune! Watch out!"

A man who seemingly my ally cut down the enemy who tried to kill me while I'm still dazed. I take a look at the man. His face look familiar... No, what am I thinking? I know this man!

"... Shigezane?"

"Lord Masamune! What the hell are you doing! You almost got yourself killed!"

"... Ugh, sorry. It looks like I got hit in the head a little. I still can't think clearly yet."

"Get a hold of yourself quickly then. You don't want to be killed by these disgusting demons now, do you?"

Demons?

I glance at the corpse of the enemy, it isn't a corpse of an ordinary man, it has blue skin and some weird stupid looking tattos, and its eyes look like some kind of cat eyes... or rather, snake eyes.

Ah... That's right! I vaguely remember now. I was fighting the demon army and got hit in the head by some stupid giant pig,

Ugh... Yeah, a giant pig with a giant spiky club. I turn around and I can see the corpse of that pig lying on the ground not very far from where I'm standing. It probably was killed by Shigezane while I was unconscious.

But why the hell am I fighting them anyway? Aren't they suppose to vanished after Orochi's second death a few years ago?

... Ugh...

"Lord Masamune. Stop acting like you're having your skull smash open already. The enemy isn't going to wait for you to recover." Shigezane yell at me and dashed torward the waves of demons in front of us like an idiot he is.

... My head hurts more and more as I try to think about what happened... So maybe I'll just save it for later, I have to concentrate on those demons rushing straight at me first.

I took out my guns and shoot them down one by one before they could even reach me. Easy as heck. Or so I thought, the speed I pulled the triggers isn't as fast as the speed that they rush over to me. They are a lot more aggressive than I remember, and a lot more in number for bonus points for annoying.

"Ugh, you freaks are just too annoying damnit!"

I take out my sword to cut down those demons and try to open a path to run. But I cut down one, five more would rush forward to stab me. It seems like there's just no end to them. Damnit! Know when to get lost already you imbe...

!

Ugh... Damn! I got a little careless, and one of them took the chance and slashed my right arm. I took my revenge by punching it in the face and slashed it across the chest. Some more demons try to follow up the demon that fell down to finish me off, but I managed to block their weapons and repel them. The other demons wacthed cautiously, like those imbeciles are waiting for me to bleed to death from the wound or something.

I pause a second and look at wound on my right arm. Thankfully, it's still attached to my shoulder, but it's still a rather serious wound, the bleeding just won't stop. If I have to fight for too long then I might seriously gonna bleed to death from a wound like, no kidding.

Damn...

This doesn't look good at all... Having my right arm disabled while I'm not left-handed is bad enough, I now find myself to be surrounded on all sides without even a single ally .

... Wait a minute? Without a single ally!

"Hey... Shigezane, where are you? You've been awfully quiet for while already."

...

No one responds.

I turned my head left, right, desperately looking around for Shigezane, but all I can see are blue-skin demons everywhere...

"Hey! Shigezane! If you can here me then answer me already! Stop joking!"

Again, no one responds. A sense of helplessness, of desperation, suddenly washed over my whole body. I now realize that it's futile to keep resisting the demons, the fight is just too one-sided, the result is obvious even from the very beginning.

I will be killed.

I definitely will be killed... Right here... Very very soon.

How can this be? I, the famed one-eyed dragon, will be killed right here? By the hands of these no name blue-skin freaks!

Sweat starts to roll down my forehead, my cheek, down to my neck. The fear of death made me sweat like I'm bathing under a giant waterfall. My left hand holding the sword also start to shake like crazy...

"EEEEE! You one-eyed human, are you so afraid of us now that you can't even stand straight!"

A deep demonic voice violently break my train of thought. The demon is a little different from the others, it wears a mask cover his whole head that make it looks like it only have one eye. If I remember right, when I was serving Orochi, he told me that demons like that are called Dodomeki... Or something like that...

"Heh... Being the only sane man that got surrounded by a bunch of freaks like you, who doesn't want to smash his head into a wall?" I tried to respond a little to show that I'm not afraid, it somehow looks like I just failed... miserably.

"Try to look cool won't do you any good, human. If you want live so badly, you might as well be honest and start begging for your life already." The demon mocks me.

Heh... Like hell I would... Wait, no. What the hell am I thinking! I would! I once served Orochi along with them anyway, so what's the problem surrendering now? And... No no no, not just once but twice! I surrender twice already... Might as well make this a third. I immediately puncture my sword into the ground, and hands up in the air as a sign of giving up.

"Okay... Okay, I give up. Now tie me up and send me to Da Ji or Kiyomori already."

"Eee, Ehehehehe. He... He actually give up just like that." The Dodomeki burst out laughing like a maniac, other demons also start laughing like it too. Tcht... What's so funny? Being prideful won't help me keep my head attached to its neck, mind you. "Ehehehehe, ehehehehe." Argh, their laugh is driving me nuts. "Ehehe, heh heh... And you just gonna give up just like that? After all that big talk of yours? Ehehehehe."

"What talk? I don't remember ever talking with a pig before."

"Heh, playing innocent now, eh? What happened to all those thing about aveging your family?"

What... What did he sayd? Ah... That's right. I remember now. I was talking with Sima Zhao in his castle about some suspicious movement in the area around the Wu Zhang Plains, I was there with Kojuro, Shigezane, Tsunamoto... And also my father was there too. And... my wife, Megohime, was also with me!

But... But then there was a sudden raid by the demon army. Tsunamoto and many men were killed in the confusion. The rest of us managed to escape out of the castle. But then something happened... Ugh, I still can't recall what it was, damnit! What happened? What happened? WHAT HAPPENDED DAMNIT!

!

... Whatever happened... My father and Megohime were killed by it... I would have also been killed right there if Kojuro hadn't pushed me out of the way and... He died to protect me... Argh... I got too shocked by their deaths that I momentary shut down my mind, Shigezane had to carry me out of the place... And when I finally came to my senses, I got so angry that I foolishly run back to those demons to seek revenge, and dragged Shigezane to whole mess.

Arghh damnit! Why the hell I only remember it now? Damnit! Damnit! DAMNIT!

...

3rd POV

After finally remember the reason why he was fighting, Masamune regained his sword, forget about his wounded right arm, forget about his hopeless situation, forget about everything else in the world, the only thing currently occupied his mind is to kill all of those demons he can see. Tears rolled down his cheek as he charged straight into the horde of demons.

Any pitiful demon dare to stand in Masamune's way got cut down mercilessly, blood from those demons sprayed all over Masamune, all over the ground, those blood sprayed all over the place like it was rainning. No, it was actually rainning at that moment. It rained like the sky was crying for Masamune, the sky cried for the hero who got robbed of everything in an instant, his friend, his father, his wife, everything.

The battle raged on, most of the demons had already been slained, the ones who are still left standing can be count on two hands. But... Masamune had already been too worn down at that moment, aside from the cut wound on his right arm from earlier, there are now several more wounds on his body, a spear still stucked on his right shoulder, a sword still plugged in his abdomen, and several cut wounds inflicted on his back. It's a wonder that he's still able to stand up, much less fighting.

Even though he is heavily wound like that, just another strike would definitely finish him off, but not a single demon dare to raise its weapon, for they fear that he would killed them before they have a chance to finish him off. The Dodomeki that lead the demons can see that the fear has already run deep in each and everyone of them, so he raised his hand to order a retreat "He's barely alive anyway... We'll just leave him here and let him slowly dying in pain."

"Wait... I haven't..." Masamune tried to reach out to them. But he only took a step forward, his whole body had already crumbled into the cold ground.

Back to Masamune's POV

Urgh... How pathetic can I be? I can't even force my body to stand up straight, and after swearing to kill them all, I let those freaks get away in the end...

...

... Now what? Am I gonna just lay down on the ground like this, enjoy the possibly the last rain I'll ever see in my life? The battle has finished... But the rain was still falling down, with no side of stopping anytime soon... Whatever, I might as well enjoy it while it last...

...

And just like that, I did nothing else but lie down on the ground, stare up to the bleak, dreary sky as the rain pour down on my face... Maybe I should try to think back about what happened once more, try to figure out what really happened...

...

... Okay, the demons made a sudden raid on us, but I remember that Tsunamoto was killed instantly... If he had got into trouble, surely I or Kojuro or Shigezane would have rescue him immediately... But the fact is that we didn't... So that mean that we couldn't.

Meaning... It wasn't just those freaks like I just fought earlier, there was something else. Something that go way beyond my level...

...

... And then Megohime and father got killed, too. Just like when Tsunamoto was killed, I couldn't do anything... I also almost got myself killed if it wasn't for Kojuro's sacrifice, and Shigezane dragging me out of the place. Just... what could that thing be?

...

... Is it...

... It is something...

... A hideous...

... A giant...

... Eight-headed snake...

... Is coming right at me...

... !

... The last thing I could remember... was a pitch-black void dyed with the crimson color of blood, as my consciousness faded away.

...

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**Masamune: Hey there my dear readers. *wave hand***

**Masamune: So you've finished reading through the chapter 1 already? What do you think? It must have been a really good read, right? Of course it is. *cough***

**Masamune: Since I'm the main character of this story after all, right? *smirk***

**Sanjima: You can't be the main character if you're already killed in chapter 1.**

**Masamune: What?**

**Sanjima: Anyway, now that you've finished chapter 1, please do look forward to chapter 2. Thank you very much.**


	2. Chapter 2: The giant serpent appears

Chapter 2: The giant serpent beast appears.

After Orochi was killed the second time. Lords, generals, tacticians of the Three Kingdoms and the Sengoku era all came to an agreement that they would return to their respective homeland, lead the people to restore their lives from all the bloodshed, and live peacefully together.

And since then, three years have already passed. The people were finally be able to return to their daily lives without fear of Orochi, the war with the demon army which has cost thousand of lives was never mentioned again.

Or should I say... no one dare to brought up the topic, for they fear that the demon would come back to life once again if they ever talk about it.

But then this one-eyed guy suddenly banged into my very room right when I was taking my usual peaceful afternoon nap, and started to talk about this whole demon army troubling-thing sighted around this Wu Zhang plains area. You know, because Orochi mixed China and Japan together, so there are castles and towns suddenly appear in places where they shouldn't have been before, and Wu Zhang plains happened to be one, and I happened to have the honor of being the one to boss people around if I so want to... Which is not really my favorite thing to do.

"Hey! Are you listening to me?"

Haaaa... Now that I think back about it, I don't exactly remember doing much in the last two wars, so why do I have to be the prefect of this remoted place anyway? This place isn't even where I was born. If there's no significant invidual that originated from around here, then at least let someone who actually did something to help winning the war. Jiang Wei, for example. ..

"Hey! I'm talking to you here, Sima Zhao!"

Oh oops... The one-eyed guy yelled at me. Geez, that almost made my heart jumped out of my chest.

"Oh, sorry my bad. I was just thinking about the situation a little." The basic excuse to used when you are caught goofing off. "Now, where were we?"

"You... Pay attention a little, you imbecile!" The guy yelled at me again, how he used 'imbecile' at the end of his sentence, remind me of how father used to adress me. He grunted a little, then orders the retainer who was sitting next to him. "Kojuro, review what I just said to him. Make it quick."

Not again... I'm bored with this kind of thing. Just finish this and go home already, will you.

"You see here, master Sima Zhao..."

"Okay okay, I got it I got it. Lord Masamune here have the duty of patrolling this little northwest of the land which also include this place, the Wu Zhang plains here, where I'm the prefect."I paused a little, 'cause the way the one-eyed guy look at me like he is telling me to stopped saying the obvious already, so I quickly get to the point. "And then lord Masamune here had reports of his men about some disturbing movement in the area, which he suspected to be somehow related to the demon army. Am I correct?"

"Yes, that was it." The retainer replies. "So, what do you think about this, master Sima Zhao?"

'_What do I think? Go home already. I'm very sleepy here.'_

... Is what I'd love to say, but I don't want the angry one-eyed guy to take out his gun and shoot me in the head, so I'll refrain from saying it.

"Didn't the demon army disappeared along with Orochi 3 years ago? Aren't you worrying too much?"

"We are not worrying too much, you imbecile. We are being extra careful here." The one-eyed guy slammed his fist to the wooden table. "What would you do if the demon suddenly appear again? Then all the hard thing we did to maintain the peace would be all for naught."

Okay okay, I got it got it... Stopped being so loud already.

"Hey Masamune. Don't you think you're a little too strict? His father speaks up.

He's also a father to two sons, but the different between him and my father is like water and fire. While he is unbelievably gentle, father is... a nighmare.

"I'm not being strict here. You're the one being too soft, father. That's why the retainers are beginning to lose respect to you." The one-eyed guy responds back in a shockingly impolite way to talk to one's parent.

Imagined if I ever talk like that to father...

'_Zhao, why can't you be more like your brother? You're being too easy-going'_

' _It's not that I'm too easy-going, it's you who are too strict, father...'_

'_Do you realize that you're talking to your father, you imbecile? Men, take him to the courtyard and tie him to a pole for 3 days. Let him starve to death. Mwahahaha'_

... Father would seriously do something like that.

" Ahem... Lord Masamune. Please remember that you're currently at lord Sima Zhao's castle. Won't you mind your manner a little?" The woman sitting right behind the one-eyed guy speaks up.

If I'm not mistaken, she's supposed to be his wife. What's her name again? Oh right... Megohime. I've heard many talk about her, how she is not only beautiful, but also a very intelligent, brilliant woman.

And I finally had a chance to see her in person today. I don't know if she's really as smart as the rumors says, but I sure can see that her beauty is real. The one-eyed guy sure is blessed to have a wife as beautiful as her... Ah... Ouch! Ouch!

"My lord. Why are you staring at lord Masamune's wife? Aren't you supposed to pay attention to something else?"

" Ouch! Ouch! Ouch! Okay okay, I got it I got it. Let go of my ear already, Yuanji."

Yuanji let go of my ear, not forgetting to give me her trademark cold stare. Ouch... She really didn't have to pull my ear so hard, it feel like she would have ripped it off if I hadn't told her to stop. Haaaa... This is why I hate doing meeting like this. No benefit, and all I receive are painful services from Yuanji. Should have let Deng Ai do all the work.

Ah... Speaking of Deng Ai.

"Hey, Yuanji. Where's Deng Ai? Shouldn't he be here to listen to what lord Masamune have to say?"

" When lord Masamune came over, master Ma Chao and his friends also came, they said that they have something important to talk about so Deng Ai is currently conversing with them on the ground floor."

So much for ditching all the work for Deng Ai. Haaa... What a pain. Just look out the window, the sky is crystal clear, the sun is shining warmly, it was such a beautiful day to take a nap. What a waste.

... Aw come on, I've just finished praising the fair weather and the sky immediately turn dark like they want to oppose me. Talk about...

... What...

What is that... thing?

Out of the window, what look like a creepy giant eyeball stare right at my face. Hey, am I starting to imagine things from all this talk about demons or something?

I glance over to Yuanji to confirm, and it looks like I'm not the only one who can see it, since Yuanji also has a horrified look on her face. Others also seem to have notice it, as they are all looking out to the window.

I stare back the eyeball for about 2 seconds, then it slowly retreat far from the window, revealing a little of what seems like its mouth. I may not be the smartest person in the land, but even I can see that whatever it's doing, it isn't going to be good.

" Everyone, get out of the room. NOW!"

I quickly ordered everyone and got up from the floor and run as fast as I can. The instant we get out of the room, waves of fire balls blasted through the castle wall, creating holes on it, which make it now possible for me to see what that thing really is.

My whole body freezes the very moment my eyes caught the complete figure of that thing. A one-eyed demon that can extend his arms at will, a giant oxen, or a horned old man. I had already seen many demons before in the last two wars. But, that thing staring right at me over is nothing like what I've ever seen before. It's a giant eight-headed serpent beast, bigger than the whole castle.

Gah! No no no no! Now is not the time to stand here observing thhat ugly thing. I have to get out of the castle quick...

Ack! The one-eyed guy and his family had already left me and Yuanji behind. Damn, gotta scram.

"Yuanji! What are you standing there for? Run!"

I took her hand and run downstair as fast as I could, leaving the rubble of the second floor behind.

...

Yes, the ground floor at last. Now, quick! Out of the gate we go. I can see the one-eyed guy just outside it.

"Master Sima Zhao. What's with all the rumble, what's happening?" Gah. My heart jumped as someone suddenly call out my name. I glanced over at him and regconized that it was Ma Chao and his friends, Ma Dai and Pang De, Deng Ai are also standing right next to him.

"You guys get out of the castle. NOW! You'll undestand when you're outside!" I said to them, and quickly run out of the castle gate.

When I finally got out of the castle, the outside come into view. The demons has already take over the place, almost everything is in ruin... What the...? Everything was still fine just a couple of minutes ago. How... How can everything got destroyed so fast? It's incomprehensible!

I got stunned by the site for a while, but quickly snapped out of it.

"Master Sima Zhao, master Sima Zhao"

Oh ah... It's master Ma Chao.

"We have our weapons with us so we'll cut open an escape path, you just have to follow us and be careful." Master Ma Chao said, pointing at him, Ma Dai, Pang De and Deng Ai, all of whom have their weapons ready for combat.

And not just them, the one-eyed guy also have his guns and sword in ready, his subordinates and also his father as well, even his wife has a katana with her. How embarassing, I forgot my Dao somewhere in the castle, I can't help them dealing with the demons. Oh well... At least I'm not alone, Yuanji is with me here... Or not, her weapon of choice are knives, so she always have some with her all the time.

... I'm the only useless one here.

Okay, enough of that already. Let's get a move on, while that creepy giant serpent beast is still busy 'devouring' the castle. Now, let's go.

As out of the 4 possible directions, north is where the giant snake is busy devouring the castle. The west would only lead to the deserted land of Xi Liang, and it would take too long to reach Tian Shui. The east is where most of the demons gather. So we decided to take the south direction, because that's where the Ueda castle of the Sanada located and can be reached in about a day time.

As we escape, we also saved some peasants from being killed by the demons. Though I said 'we', it's mostly master Ma Chao who rushed to save them the most, and the others followed him, while I just stood out of the fighting and... cheer them up... Well, at least I did do something.

The castle has began to collapsed since the giant sepent has bit most of the supporting pillars of the castle, and breathes fire to burn off what's left of the castle. And somewhere from the direction of the rubble of the castle, a faint sound of a girl crying for help could be heard.

"What's wrong master Sima Zhao?" Noticed that I suddenly stopped running, Deng Ai ask.

"Did you hear a girl's voice cries for help somewhere?" I point in the direction of the castle "I'll go back there to check for the girl. I'll get back to you guys as soon as possible. Take care Yuanji for me."

But Deng Ai held back my shoulder, stopped me from going.

"Let go of me, Deng Ai."

"I can't. I wouldn't know what to say lord Sima Yi if something happened to you." Deng Ai replied.

"Don't worry. I'll be back right away, it won't take long."

I take Deng Ai's hand off my shoulder and run off to the direction of the girl's crying.

"Hey. Where are you? You still alive?"

"Is anyone there? Help me. I am over here." A voice came from a little to my right. There I see the girl, her leg got stucked under the pile of stones. I quickly get over there and remove the stones for her.

"Oh, thank you so much. I wouldn't know what to do if you hadn't come."

"Save it when I get you out of here..."

"EEEEEE! I found a human! I found a human!"

Ack! The demons spotted me. Damn, I don't have my Dao with me.

"EEEEE! Die human!" With a sword in his hand, the demon ran torward me "Urghh..."

Okay... What just happened? Oh, Deng Ai! He followed me. Thanks goodness.

"Master Sima Zhao! Are you alright?" I can also see master Ma Chao is here too, alright.

"You imbecile. Don't just run off on your own and slow us down like that" Oh, even the one-eyed guy came back for me.

BOOM!

Gah! What the...? A fire ball came out of nowhere, it almost hit me in the face. Damn it, the giant serpent changed its target to us. Oh no, more are coming!

"Ah!"

Oh no, the girl! The flame seperated her with the rest of us.

"My lord! What are you doing? The flames are too strong, jumping in is suicidal." Yuanji ran in front of me, stopping from going to the girl's side.

"But I can't just let that girl in the flames like that! She'll die!"

"You are the one who will die if you jump into the fire like that!" Yuanji yelled at me. She's usually very calm and cool, it's rare to see her get so upset like this.

"Ah!"

Argh! Another fire ball came flying down. And there's a few more coming!

I quickly hold Yuanji and jump to the side, the giant serpent breathes several more fire balls, but I managed to dodge all of them.

After the wave of fire ball, I quickly get a hold of myself and stand up. I quickly look around. The flame has spread a lot wider than previously.

I can no longer see the girl nor hear her cry for help...

"No... No..."

It was just a little more... If had had a little more time, if I had rushed over to the girl a little sooner, I would have able to get her out of the rubble. And yet... I couldn't save her... Not just the girl... I couldn't save the town... I couldn't save anyone...

* * *

**Sima Zhao: *cough* Hello there readers.**

**Sima Zhao: So I got to be the main character of chapter 2. Of course I'm happy, but after being the main character of DW7 Jin's story and WO3 main story, I'm kind of tired being the main character already.**

**Sima Zhao: Don't you think someone else should be the main character this time?**

**Sanjima: Okay, I'll kill you off the next chapter then.**

**Sima Zhao: Wait, wait! That's not what I mean.**

**Sanjima: Anyway, now that you've finished chapter 2, please do look forward to chapter 3. Thank you very much.**


	3. Chapter 3: Tragedy strikes

Chapter 3: Tragedy strikes.

It was about 5 days ago. It was just another typical day like usual at Wu Wei. Ma Dai, Pang De and I was walking around the city patrolling. Nothing seems out of ordinary so we got into a tavern and ordered some wine to drink.

As we were drinking and talking about various things, a woman aprroached us. She's dressed in a cloak with the hood covers her face. She asked me "You are lord Ma Chao, right? Can I speak to you for a moment?"

"Is something the matter?" I replied to the woman.

"Uhm... How do I say this?" The woman has paused a little, like she's puzzled thinking about what to say.

" Come on, just speak what you want. Don't need to be too formal. The young master won't mind." Ma Dai reassure the woman.

"If you say so, then I'll get straight to the point." The woman then took out a letter, her tone of voice suddenly changed "I want you to read this, and do exactly what it tell you to."

I got a little surprised, and a little suspicious at the woman's words. But I took the letter from her hand anyway. I opened it and started to read the what it's about.

'In a few days time, the small town at Wu Zhang plains will be attacked by the demon army.'

What in the...?

I slammed the my fist to the table and turned to the woman "What is the meaning of this?"

"Do not get so worked up, lord Ma Chao. Keep reading." The woman calmly replied.

Seeing I suddenly lost my calmness, Ma Dai and Pang De got closer to me and they also started to read the letter. I ignored the woman and continued to read the rest of the letter.

'Do not be alarmed, I am not threatening or you or anyhing. I am simply warning you about the attack so you can prepare yourself.

If you don't want a massacre to happen, then you better be quick and get to the town as soon as possible. You can prepare an army to fight off the demon army if you want, but I don't recommend you doing so as it would cost too much time, and probably would only increase the casualties. Or you can get your horses and head for the town quickly, maybe... Right about now would be good.

Why am i telling you all this? Who knows? Maybe this letter is telling the truth, or maybe it's just little not-so-harmless prank, take it whichever way you want, but don't regret it later.'

The letter ends there, it doesn't say anything about the writer. I intended to ask the woman who told her to give this letter, but as I turned my sight away from the letter, the woman has already disappeared without a trace.

"What in the..."

I immediately left my seat and looked around the tavern, I even wen out to the street, but I found no sign her. So I returned to the table and discussed the matter with Ma Dai and Pang De.

"What do you think about this letter?"

"The content of the letter is not very credible. What's with it suddenly say that there will be an attack by the demon army, and to order us to leave Wu Wei immediately isn't very... polite." Ma Dai voiced his opinion.

"And there's no name of the sender of the letter, hte woman who gave us the letter also acted very suspiciously." Pang De said.

"I agree. But it's hard to ignore what the letter says."

"And why is that?" Pang De questioned me.

"It can't be a prank, no one in their right mind would joke about something like this. And especially because the woman acted too suspicious for this to just be a joke."

"Make sense." Pang De agreed with me.

"But what if it turn out to be just some really sick joke? Maybe that woman is a demon worshipper? You know, I really think we souldn't take this letter too seriously." Ma Dai asked.

I raised an eyebrow at Ma Dai's questions, as it's... a little out of character for him, since he's usually very relaxed, but got so worked up all of the sudden.

"But what if it turns out to be telling the truth? If it does, many innocent lives would be lost, and it is our fault for not trying to prevent it."

My reasoning is very... reasonable, so Ma Dai couldn't say anything back but stay silent.

"I think we should hurry and leave for Wu Zhang plains to inform master Sima Zhao like the letter told us to." Pang De said.

"I agree. We should hurry and get ready, only the three of us will leave. My father and other officers can take care of the castle by themselves."

"But what if the letter is trap to chase us away from Wu Wei? Then while we are away, the demon army will attacked here at Wu Wei, not the town at Wu Zhang plains." Ma Dai voiced another theory of his.

"Well... It's possible, but Wu Wei is well guarded with trained troops, with my father as the commander and many other capable officers. The absence of the three of us really shouldn't be matter much."

"Well then, what if they are waiting for us to leave and ambush us on the way?" Ma Dai continues with his what-if. There's clearly something bugging him for him to be so stubborn.

"Then we'll just take a little detour. It will take longer to reach Wu Zhang plains, but if we hurry then we'll arrive there in about 5 days." Ma Dai looks like he's about to say something else, but I stopped him before he does "Sorry, but... is there something bothering you? You seems too be worrying to much. It's very unlike how you usually act."

"..." Ma Dai looks down, like he's feeling guilty for what he's been saying "I'm... I'm sorry, young master. It's just that I have a very bad feeling about this and thought that we really shouldn't go. And you know me, I'm usually right when it comes to these kind of things."

"Nonsense. If you call yourself a true warriors, you shouldn't worry about those 'bad feelings' of yours. What you should worry about is dealing with the matter at hand." Pang De reassured Ma Dai.

"Pang De is right, try not to worry too much about it, Ma Dai."

Ma Dai nodded slighty and stayed silent, but at least he seems to be a little less worried about the letter. We then headed back to our homes, packed up our stuffs and headed out in the direction of the Wu Zhang plains.

Thinking back about it, I really should have paid more attention to Ma Dai's bad feeling. I thought that even if the demon army going to attack the town, we surely would be able to see it coming and prepare for some countermeasures. But, they just appear, they just appear out of nowhere and surprise us. Now that it has come to this, I have no choice but to use my spear of justice to cut open a path for us to find the survivors and to escape.

Our current group consist of me, Ma Dai, Pang De, master Sima Zhao, lady Wang Yuanji, Deng Ai, lord Terumune, master Masamune, lady Megohime, Kojuro, Shigezane, a few brave soldiers and some peasants we managed to rescued from the demons. There was suppose to be another Date's subordinate with us, but lord Terumune said that he was killed instantly when the giant eight-headed serpent attacked the castle...

As we were running southward, master Sima Zhao suddenly stopped. Deng Ai noticed so and talked to master Sima Zhao a little, then master Sima Zhao ran off on his own, to the direction of the castle we just left, which has now reduced to a pile of rubble. Confused by his action, I ask Deng Ai.

"Wha... What is master Sima Zhao doing? Why is he running back?"

"He said he heard a voice of a girl cried for help in that direction, so he ran back there to find her." Deng Ai answered.

"That's not good. We have to follow him quick!"

Deng Ai nodded and run after master Sima Zhao immediately. I turn around and tell everyone to follow suit.

"Everyone! Master Sima Zhao has run back to the castle to save the innocents. Let us go after him."

Everyone all nod and run back for master Sima Zhao, except for one person, master Masamune. He wave his hand, and say with an annoyed voice "Bah. Leave him be, why should we risk our life for that idiot? There's a freakin giant eight-headed serpent waiting for us there. Our priority now is to escape as quickly as possible, not to die as quickly as possible."

"You... How dare you say that? Have you no sense of justice?"

"Do not point your spear at me like that, you justice maniac. Say what you want, but I'm not going back."

"Come on, Masamune. Don't be so selfish. Master Sima Zhao is unarmed, we can't just leave him alone." Lord Terumune urges his son to go back, but master Masamune still refuse.

"Master Masamune, I think you should obey lord Terumune. I know your personality well, but this really isn't the time to be stubborn." Kojuro tries to convince master Masamune.

"Shut up, Kojuro. If you know me well, then you should know that I won't change my mind no matter what you say. I am not going back! You stay here too, Shigezane."

"..."

"My lord, if you don't want to go back. Then lead these men and the civilians to safety , we will be back immediately." Megohime says so to master Masamune, then she says to us "Everyone, let us go."

It is unfortunate, but it seems we can't convince master Masamune to change his mind. The rest of us then turn back to the castle, leaving behind master Masamune and his subordinate, Shigezane.

3rd POV

"..."

"..."

"Ah... Uhm... Master Masa..."

"WHAT!"

Masamune shout at the old man who just speak up, making the old man cower in fear.

"I said 'what!'. If you want to say something then spell it out!" Masamune says angrily

"Ah... Don't... Don't you think... that you should head back with the others?" the old man saiys timidly.

"If you want to go die with them then do it yourself, old man. Don't say stupid things like that to me." Masamune replies

"Really? You think what he said is stupid?" Shigezane raises an eyebrow at Masamune.

"You said something, Shigezane?" Masamune glare at Shigezane.

Seeing Masamune's angry face, normal people would get freak out, or cower in fear like the old man just now. But Shigezane doesn't fear Masamune, he smirk at his lord's face.

"If you don't want to go back with them? Then why don't you continue to run away with the civilians like lady Megohime told you to? Or standing here doing nothing amuse you so much?"

"You... Why should I listen to her? I'm the lord of the Date clan, not her. And I just feel like standing here waiting for them to get back to beg for my forgiveness for not listening to me." Masamune flustered.

Shigezane don't say anything back, he just keep staring into Masamune's eyes.

"..."

"..."

"..."

"Okay, you win. It feels wrong to run away while they go back to fight. There, are you happy now?"Masamune surrender to Shigezane's intense stare.

"Then what are you doing here? We should go back, too." Shigezane says.

"Then what about the people here? Someone have to protect them." Masamune says.

"Please don't worry about it, master Masamune." A middle-age man speak up. "We are not so useless that we can't protect ourselves."

"Yes, we can't help you go back to fight the demon, but we can at least protect ourselves from here." A younger man says.

"Yes, don't worry about us. We'll be just fine." The old man reassures Masamune.

"You idiots..." Hearing their encouraging words, Mamune made up his mind. "Alright! Shigezane, we're going after those idiots. And all of you here, I order you to make it to Ueda castle safely. If anyone dare to die on the way, I'll pull you back from the dead and kill you again. Understood?"

All the men shout in unison a big "Yes", and the proceed to head in the direction of Ueda castle. Masamune nod to Shigezane, and together, they turn back to help Sima Zhao.

Back to Ma Chao's POV

...

Ah, I can see master Sima Zhao over there. There's also some girl with her leg stucked beneath a pile of stones. Deng Ai is just beside them, fending off the demons.

"Master Sima Zhao! Are you alright?"

Seeing me and everyone, master Sima Zhao looks rejoiced.

"You imbecile. Don't just run off on your own and slow us down like that" I think I heard some familiar voice. Oh, it's master Masamune... So he did decided to come back after all.

"I happy to know that the flame of justice still burns brightly inside your heart."

"Shut up, say another 'justice' and I'll blow your head off."

Haha... Even though his words are harsh, master Masamune really is a good guy at heart.

BOOM!

Argh! The eight-head serpent! It's breathing fire upon master Sima Zhao. I have to help him quick!

"EEEEEEE! Human, human!"

Urgh... The demons! More of them are coming this way.

"Get out of my way! I don't have time for you."

I use my spear to sweep them from the side to clear the way. But I clear the first wave, more of them come up from behind. Left, right, behind, in front, they attack fiercely, rapidly, leaving me not even a second to breathe.

Ugh... The demons are many, but they aren't terribly outnumbered me, but with just with just these numbers, they have managed to outfight me. Is it because I haven't fight for 3 years? I don't remember these demons being this tough.

Under the fierce attacks from them, I got pushed back a few steps. I stumble on one of the demon's corpse and slighty lost my balance.

Seeing the chance, one of the demons raise its sword over its head, it aim at the top of my head and slash down with all of its might, like a carpenter using his axe to chop down a tree. I quickly hold my spear horizontally to block its attack. Just before the sword hit my spear, another demon jump out from behind the attacking demons, with a pike in its hands, it aim right at my ribs.

I quickly fix the way I hold my spear, and managed to barely block their attacks. From the impact made by the weapons, I got pushed back even further than before.

This is not good, I can barely hold my ground. How can I get to master Sima Zhao?

"Heh, pathetic. You can't even fight these freaks on your own, and yet you dare to spout all of those justice crap of yours?"

Wha...? Master Masamune?

Master Masamune take out his pistols and start to shoot at the demons.

"I'll cover you. So get moving already." He said.

"Thanks, master Masamune. I am indebted to you."

"Shut up."He immediately shout back at me, leaving me a little dumbfound."I'm not doing this to hear you say thank, I'm doing this to get rid of those freaks. Now, get going already, or I will blow off your head."

While I can't comprehend why master Masamune prefer to use harsh words and insults on others so much. But by his actions, I can see that his belief in justice is just as great as I, so I no longer question him. I nod slighty to master Masamune, my hands grip the spear tightly, and I charge forward to the remaining demons.

"Have a taste of my spear of JUSTICE!"

All I have to worry about are the demons in front of me, I just have to charge forward, and cut down all in my sight. Any demons who try to attack me from behind will instantly get shoot down by master Masamune. It was a magnificent teamwork. And with that, the group of demons were wiped out in no time.

"Phew... Alright! Where's master Sima Zhao?"

Ah... He's over there, just a little away from the fire. Lord Terumune, Kojuro, lady Yuanji and lady Megohime are right next to him...

... And the eight-headed serpent is also just a few meters away from them!

!

One of the serpent's head sweep down the ground, knocking everyone into the air. They stay in the air for a few seconds before smashing down to the ground in different directions.

"Ah..."

I immediately run to master Sima Zhao and lady Wang Yuanji's side. While master Masamune run to lord Terumune and lady Megohime's side, Kojuro and Shigezane are right behind him.

"Master Sima Zhao! Lady Wang Yuanji! Are you alright? Can you stand up?"

"Ah... I'm alright, just a little dizzy in the head." Master Sima Zhao answer me. He then get up on his own, and extend his hand to help lady Wang Yuanji getting up from the ground. "Are you alright, Yuanji?"

"I'm fine. I can get up by myself. You don't need to worry." Saying that, lady Wang Yuanji ignore master Sima Zhao's hand and stand up on her own, and brushing off the dust on her clothes.

"AAAAAARGHHH!"

A terrifying scream suddenly come from where master Masamune and the others are.

To our horror, one of the serpent's head is just a few meters away from master Masamune's group. And in its mouth, the body of lady Megohime can be seen. She screams in agony, desperately trying to get out of the serpent's mouth but in vain. The more she struggle, the more painful she looks, the more wildly her breathing becomes. Paying no mind to her struggle, the serpent's eye just glare at me, or rather, at us, like it was saying that "You will be next."

As her body lose more and more blood with every passing second, lady Megohime's desperate struggle get weaker and weaker. And when she finally give up, the serpent just casually toss her up in the air like a mere withered tree branch, and wait for her to fall down its throat.

Ugh... My whole body tremble before the scene... It was just too sickening... It made me want to vomit...

But... I need to get a hold of myself. I have to get a hold myself. Of course it's not just me that's terrified at the sight, everyone is. So...

So...

3rd POV

Megohime's gruesome death shocked Ma Chao's group greatly. But to their side, they can only see one head of the serpent and what it did to Megohime. It was nothing when compare to what Masamune's group see, not only they can clearly see what Ma Chao's group see, but they also see another thing that Ma Chao's group was unable to see. The sight of the second head of the serpent, biting off Terumune's upper body.

Megohime's death was a heavy blow to Masamune, but having his father immediately killed right afterward almost made Masamune to rip his heart out of his chest and die together with them. Masamune extend his arms to what's left of Terumune, yelling out a heart-wrenching last call to his father in vain.

The serpent's head release Terumune's legs from its mouth, and proceed to attack Masamune. With Masamune's mind currently unstable, there's no way he can see the serpent attack and dodge it. He will surely be killed by the serpent, just like how his wife and father just seconds before.

But just an instance before the serpent's fangs sink into Masamune's flesh. Kojuro managed to push his lord out of the way, and become the sacrifice for the serpent instead. Kojuro has died, he has died to save his lord from certain death.

Masamune was saved, but he was killed the very same instant, his mind has shut down, he refuses to see, he refuses to hear, he refuses to do anything. The Masamune on the ground now, is nothing more than a living corpse.

* * *

**Ma Chao: Greetings, Ma Chao speaking here.**

**Ma Chao: So the POV's character of this chapter was suppose to be me, right?**

**Sanjima: Uhm hum...**

**Ma Chao: But it feels like this chapter features master Masamune more than me.**

**Sanjima: Really? Masamune didn't narrate the chapter. You did, most of it.**

**Ma Chao: Do you have any grudge against or something? I get to be the** **POV's character of the chapter, and the chapter got 3 characters killed by the end.**

**Sanjima: Their deaths was announce back in chapter 1, why so surprise?**

**Ma Chao: And why do I have so little personality comment in this chapter? I want more justice!**

**Sanjima: Because your justice is boring.**

**Ma Chao: My justice is not boring! My justice is...**

**Sanjima: Okay! Cut! Stop! Chapter 3 is finished, please look forward to chapter 4, thank you very much.**


	4. Chapter 4: Escape from the WZPlains

Chapter 4: Escape from the Wu Zhang plains.

"Hey, master Pang De." I call out to master Pang De, who is just a few steps away from me.

"What is it, master Ma Dai?" He answer without even looking back to me.

"You know... We are rushing back to where the demons and that giant eight-headed serpent is. It's very likely that we will be surround if we are not careful."

"If it happens, then I'll force a way through for us all." Master Pang De says, full of confident.

"No, what I mean is... I know that you are a proud warrior, but facing the enemy head on isn't always the only option. In times like this, we sure can use a plan."

"What kind of plan? You're suggesting we run away?" Master Pang De glares at me.

"No! What make you think I'd say something like that?"

"Well, then... What's your plan?" Master Pang De asks.

"The stable is a bit northwest from here. We go to it, get some horses, run to the young master, give the horses to everyone, then we all escape to safety. There's no way the demons can catch up with the horses, so we won't have to worry about being surround."

"Your plan makes sense, but we can't just leave master Ma Chao and everyone else while we are away." Master Pang De objects to my plan.

"Come on now. It is the young master we are talking about. Even you, master Pang De, can't compete against him. What's there to worry about? Besides, master Deng Ai is a very capable fighter himself, not to mention that the Date is also with him. I'm more worry about whether there will be demons around the stable."

"So that's why you need me to go with you?" Master Pang De says, he finally look back to me.

"Yes, yes that's right. I'm not very confident in my martial skills, so I need a true warrior like you."

"Well then, me and my mace shall gladly accompany you." Master Pang De swing his mace a few rounds in the air and then slam it to the ground. "Let us go."

I nod at master Pang De, we then change our destination to the stable.

Even though I said to master Pang De that we don't need to worry about the young master, I still have a bad feeling that something bad is gonna happen to him. Oh god, please let the young master be safe... At least until I return to him with some horses.

...

With the town got attacked and most of it was burned down, the road also got messed up. With the town messed up like this, I expected the demons to be everywhere and block my way to the stable. But no, there's not a single soul. No demons whatsoever, not even any human around, not even a dead body among the rubbles. It's just so unnatural, it's unnerving.

I have another uneasy feeling, I feel like something bad is waiting for us up ahead. But I can't say about my uneasy feeling to master Pang De, he probably would just tell me forget about it and act more like a true warrior.

Not that I don't appreciate his enthusiasm to the way of the the warrior, but I wish that he and the young master would start to listen to me more, it would certainly help me having less uneasy feelings.

Then, we finally arrive at the stable. Unlike the rest of the town, the stable is somehow still in one piece, and the horses look like they are all unharmed. And not just that, the horses, 10 total, are standing in line, like they are waiting for me.

"Took you long enough."

An unfamiliar voice suddenly come out of nowhere. The voice made me startled a bit, but I immediate get into fighting stance to prepare for whatever may come.

"Who's there? Show yourself!" Master Pang De shout out loud, and also get into his fighting stance.

From the stable, a man walk out. He wears a black robe with red patterns on it, he has white hair reaching the mid-back, with bangs that completely obscure his eyes.

He walks to us, he is walking torward us in a casual manner . I don't know why, but by just doing that simple action, he makes me feel uneasy. I feel there's something... inhuman about him...

"Relax, I'm not a bad guy." The man says.

"How can we trust you about that? Who are you? What are you doing here? What do you want?"

"You can't. You don't need to know who I am. I'm here waiting for you. I want you to take those horses." He quickly answer my questions, in a creepy monotone. "And please ask one question at a time, 'kay."

"You... were waiting for us?" Master Pang De looks surprised.

"Yes, I just said so." The man answer.

"How did you even know that we gonna come here? We only think about it just a moment ago."

"No reason, I just knew." The man shrug.

So... He somehow know that we were gonna head here, so he prepare the horses in line, and wait for us to come... When everyone else is running with their tails between their legs from the demons... This man, is, definitely, not, a normal human.

"What's wrong? Your face is kinda... funny." The man says. Even with his bangs obscure his eyes, the way he slighty tilt his head to the side with a small grin on his face, makes it looks like he is looking down on us.

Ugh... he gives me the creepy, I don't want to stay here with him any longer, better move along. Besides, there are more important things to do.

Master Pang De looks like he is about to ask the man some more questions, but I stop him.

"Don't bother wasting our time with him. We better hurry back to the young master."

"Smart choice." The man smiles.

Master Pang De and I then walk over to the horses and get on 2 of them.

"Move along, boys. Ha!" Master Pang De says to the horses, then he run ahead with them.

I take one last look at the man. Black robes with red patterns, white hair with bangs obscures the eyes. I better remember him... Just to be sure...

"Whose side are you on?"

"Like I said, I'm not a bad guy." The man replies.

Great... That was a waste of time. I can't let master Pang De and the young master wait, so I better hurry. Oh, wait...

"Hey. How are you gonna... leave?"

Before I could even finish my sentence, the man has already left without a trace. Guess I really did worry too much, huh?

Anyway, master Pang De and the young master...

"Let's go!"

3rd POV

Back to where the giant eight-headed serpent beast is. At the moment, the number of survivors have been reduced to 6: Sima Zhao, Ma Chao, Deng Ai, Wang Yuanji, Masamune and Shigezane. The survivors were didived into 2 groups by the fire created by the serpent. With the group of Sima Zhao, consists himself, Ma Chao, Deng Ai and Wang Yuanji. And the group of Masamune, who is currently unconscious after the shock of his family's deaths, he Shigezane, a subordinate and cousin of Masamune. The 2 groups are currently running away from the serpent as fast as their legs allow.

"You, idiot! Now is not the time to fall asleep. Wake up!" Shigezane yelled at Masamune as he run, but no respond comes from Masamune.

Shigezane quickly run over to hide under a collapsed house. Shigezane put down Masamue down and take a short rest.

"Gimme a break, won't you. It's really tiring running around while carrying a grown man." He grumbles while panting heavily.

Shigezane take a quick look at Masamune. "He is still alive, yet he acts like he's already dead." He thought. Then he take a peek out of the collapsed house. The serpent is still at the rubble of the castle, it show no sign of moving, and it has stopped breathing fireballs at them.

"What happened over there?" Shigezane thought to himself, as the serpent seems to have forget them to find some other targets near it.

Shigezane sit down, closes his eyes, he counts from 1 to 10, then he take a deep breath.

"Alright, let's get moving, little guy." He says to Masamune, then proceed to carry his lord on his shoulders and continue his escape.

As for Sima Zhao's group...

"I think the giant serpent got bored playing with us already." Sima Zhao says while panting heavily.

"My lord. Are you okay? You're breathing really hard." Wang Yuanji asks Sima Zhao, her face looks really worried.

"Ah... I'm okay, I'm okay." Sima Zhao says.

"Master Sima Zhao, if you're too tired then should we take a short rest?" Ma Chao asks.

"No, it's okay. We better hurry out of here while that giant serpent is distracted... I don't want to risk it again." Sima Zhao replies.

"I can give you a piggyback ride if you want." Deng Ai says.

"Thanks, but no thanks. It would be awkward if I do." Sima Zhao flustered.

...

"Can we just... go now?" Sima Zhao urges everyone.

No one says another word, everyone just continue their escape from the place, pretending that the conversation never happened.

"Man, what a pain." Sima Zhao sighs.

"Ah! Young master!"

Back to Ma Dai's POV.

"Ah! Young master!"

As I and master Pang De hurry back from the stable, we run into the young master and others.

"Ma Dai! Pang De! I was so worry about you two. Where have you been?" The young master ask us.

"We went to get these guys." Master Pang De look over to the horses behind us.

"Ah! Thanks goodness, my legs are killing me." Master Sima Zhao says, and quickly hop on to one of the horses.

"My lord. Even if you are tired, don't jump on the horse suddenly like that. That manner of yours is unacceptable." Lady Wang Yuanji scolds master Sima Zhao.

"Come on. Give me a break, Yuanji. Nobody would care about manners at a time like this." Master Sima Zhao scratches his head.

Phew... Thank goodness everyone is safe and can still talk so casually. Geez, they made worry for nothing... Wait... The young master, master Sima Zhao, master Deng Ai, lady Wang Yuanji. Where's master Masamune and his family?

"Come on! Ma Dai, Pang De. Get some horses ready, we're going to go look for master Masamune's group. Master Sima Zhao, master Deng Ai and lady Yuanji, you three get a horse and get out of here first, we'll follow you as soon as we find master Masamune." The young master order us and hop onto a horse.

"Wait... Wait a minute. When did you guys get seperated with master Masamune?"

"Just a while ago. We got attacked by the giant serpent, and he fire it breathes seperated us." The young master says. "But now's not the time to talk. Ma Dai, Pang De, let's go!"

After saying so, the young master immediately run off on his own, he does not even wait for me to react to the situation.

"There he goes again..."

"Straighten up, master Ma Dai. Master Ma Chao told us to follow him, didn't he?" Master Pang De pats me in the back and then quickly follow the young master.

Haaa... I wish that they would just slow down a little for me. But that's what make me respect them so much so I guess I can't complain here.

I turn to master Sima Zhao.

"Well, sorry about that. Justice calls."

Master Sima Zhao smiles at me, shrugs. "I know, I know."

I smile back at master Sima Zhao. I scratch my head a little, bow to master Sima Zhao then turn around to call the horses and proceed to follow the young master.

...

"Lord Terumune! Master Masamune! Where are you?"

"Lady Megohime! Master Kojuro! Master Shigezane! Anyone?"

We go around the southwest area of the castle to search for them. It has been around 20 minutes since we started the search, but we have yet to find anyone.

"Maybe they run over to the west to avoid the demons?" Master Pang De wonders.

"But we have all agreed to head south to Ueda castle. Do you think master Masamune would just suddenly head west for no reason?"

"Hmm..." Master Pang De stroke his beard, like he's deep in thought.

"Wherever they may be. It is still our duty to find them and help them out of this place." Master Ma Chao says, then continue to search for master Masamune's group.

I also continue for the search as I think about what happened

Where could they possibly be if they are not here? Did they get attacked when they got seperated with the young master's group? Or did they...

"Is... Is that master Ma Dai?"

A voice calls out to me from somewhere from the collapsed house.

"Master Shigezane?"

"Yes, it's me." He walks out of the house, carrying master Masamune on his back.

"Young master! Master Pang De! I found master Shigezane and master Masamune!"

I call out to the young master and master Pang De, then I get off the horse and rush over to master Shigezane.

"Wha... What happened? Are you two okay? Why is there only you two here? Where's lord Terumune? Where's lady Megohime and master Kojuro?"

"Hey... Slow down. Don't shower with me with questions." Master Shigezane groan.

"Oh... Sorry, my bad."

I scratch my head. It's really insensitive of me to suddenly asking him so much questions like that. I have to give them a little a time to calm themselves, they are probably overjoyed to be reunited after all...

Wait a minute... Upon taking a closer look at them, I see that master Masamune is unconscious. And around master Shigezane's abdomen...

"You're bleeding! We have to stop the bleeding."

"Hey, relax. I just bandaged myself a while ago, the wound has already stopped bleeding." He reassures me.

"Oh ah... Sorry, I panic."

"Master Shigezane, we're here." The young master and master Pang De finally arrived.

Master Shigezane see the horses that follow us, so he put master Masamune on one of the horses, and get on the horse himself.

"Come on, let's get out of here. I'll tell you what happened along the way." He says.

"What about..."

"They are not here... anymore." Not even wait for me to finish my sentence, master Shigezane says so with a sad face.

...

We quickly get out of the area, out of the town and to the open plain. And finally, master Shigezane decided to speak up.

" Master Ma Chao... You remember when we were divided into two groups by the giant serpent?"

"Yes..." The young master replies, with a troubled look on his face.

"After that... Lady Megohime and lord Terumune was killed by the serpent... It also intended to kill master Masamune, but Kojuro pushed him out of the way and died for him instead. Perhaps because of the push, but master Masamune has been unconscious from that moment." He says, patting on master Masamune's helmet.

Poor master Masamune... The deaths of his father and wife must have been very shocking to him.

"I then carry master... No, lord Masamune and run away from the serpent. But it breathes many fireballs at me, and I stumbles many times." He then touches the wound on his abdomen. "I got this little wound when I fell over a burning stick. But it was nothing seriou so don't worry."

Nothing serious? That little wound? You bleed so much that part of your white shirt got dyed red!

"Anyway... Even though lord Terumune, lady Megohime and Kojuro died. I'm glad that at least master Masamune is still unharmed." He pat master Masamune's helmet again.

After that, nobody says another word. We just keep heading south, where master Sima Zhao would wait for us, at Ueda castle.

...

The sky started to get dark. Not because it was getting late, but because black clouds have started to gather in the area, signs that a heavy rain is coming.

"Looks like it going to rain soon." Master Pang De says. "Good. The rain should put out the fire at the town."

"You think so? That fire was made by that giant serpent. It's not goin to be easily extinguished."

"How do you know? Have you try it yet?" Master Pang De raises an eyebrow at me.

"Well, no... But I have a feeling that it would be so."

"Hahaha! Again with 'feeling' of yours." Master Pang De burst out laughing.

"Hey! What's so funny?"

"Ma Dai. Being cautious is good, but worry too much about things isn't going to be good for your head." The young master says jokingly.

"Wha... Young master..."

"Ugh... Can't you imbeciles be a little quiet?" The familiar annoyed voice came from none other than the one who has been unconscious this whole time, master Masamune.

"Lord Masamune? Are... Are you feeling okay?" Master Shigezane asks master Masamune.

"I'm fine... But... What happened here?" Master Masamune replies, knocking his head over and over again trying to remember what happened.

"Ah... You know, you were talking with master Sima Zhao... And then there's... The demon shows up, and... here we are." Master Shigezane try choose his wording carefully, so as to not upset master Masamune.

"The demons...? Ugh..." Master Masamune hold his head like he's in extreme pain.

Then like he just realized something, he let out a large anguish "Ah". He immediately take control of the horse, order it to turn around and run full speed, knocking master Shigezane down to the ground, surprising me and everyone.

"Wa... Wait, master Masamune!"

"Ma Dai! You help master Shigezane get on the horse. Pang De! Go with me after master Masamune quick!"

"Wait!" Master Shigezane stops the two from going. "Knowing that idiot, he's probably going back to the demons to seek revenge."

"But... Going back is suicidal!"

"Exactly... That's why you guys should continue for Ueda castle. I'm going with him." He says.

Master Shigezane get on a horse and prepare to go after master Masamune. But master put his mace out, block master Shigezane's way.

"I understand that you don't want us to risk our lives again, we also don't want you to risk your life. We couldn't stopped master Masamune, but we at least want to stop you." Master Pang De says.

Master Shigezane immediately draw out his sword from its sheath and knock off master Pang De's mace out of the way. His action surprised master Pang De.

"Nonsense!" Master Shigezane shouts at master Pang De angrily. "That idiot is my lord, my cousin, my BESTFRIEND. Even if I'm going to die, I am not going to let him die!"

After saying so, master Shigezane runs off after master Masamune, leaving the three of us behind, speechless, bewildered, not knowing what to say.

...

* * *

**Ma Dai: Oh, here we are again, at the end of the chapter.**

**Pang De: You know, when we suddenly vanished in the last chapter, I thought Sanjima has forgot about us and he only write this chapter so that the story won't have plothole so early.**

**Ma Dai: Nah... What make you think so? He had to think carefully about what to write so we all have our time to shine. There's no way he would just 'forgot' about us now, would he?**

**Pang De: Really now? *glare to Sanjima***

**Sanjima: *whistle* Maaaaybe?**

**Sanjima: Anyway, now that chapter 4 has finished, please look forward for chapter 5. Thank you very much.**


	5. Chapter 5: The whitehaired man

**Hello readers. Chapter 5 was suppose to be upload a few days ago, but my PC suddenly has some problem and the folder contains the the chapters was gone, so I have to rewrite this chapter from scratch, and about mid-way I got lazy so I started to write this chapter sillier than the previous chapters. Well, sorry about the delay and I hope you enjoy this chapter, too.**

Chapter 5: The white-haired man.

So, let's check back the demon's army's attack on the town of Wu Zhang plains, shall we? Who are the survivors? Sima Zhao, Ma Chao, Deng Ai, Ma Dai, Pang De, Wang Yuanji and some others fortunate civilians and soldiers. Masamune and Shigezane would have been counted as survivors as well, but because they turned back to face the demon's army at the last minute, their fates left unknown. What's the casualties from the attack? Terumune, Megohime, Kojuro, Tsunamoto and unknown number of unfortunate civilians.

Now what else is there to say about the attack? What happened to the girl who Sima Zhao tried to save but failed? Let's go back in time a little to when Sima Zhao got seperated with the girl by the flames, shall we?

The eight-headed serpent breathes waves of fireballs upon Sima Zhao and the girl, and as the result, seperated Sima Zhao with the girl, right? After that, Sima Zhao tried to call out for the girl, but hear no reponse, so he thought that she was already dead.

But no, the girl survived the attack. But how did she survived? And if she did, why didn't she respond to Sima Zhao's call?

Because... The girl has managed to conjures up a barrier of light to protect herself when the eight-headed serpent breathes fireballs upon them. Had her leg wasn't stuck under the piles of stones, she would have stand run away with Sima Zhao as fast as she. But life isn't always so easy, you know? With no other options, she has to stay there, inside the barrier she created, enduring the endless waves of fireballs rains upon her head. Enduring such fierce attacks would be too much for a girl like her. But, if she gives in into attacks, she would be consumes by the fire, her life would be over in a flash, so she just clench her teeth, desperately prayed to the god to protect her, and continue to endure the attacks from the eight-headed serpent.

But the girl has reached her limit, her barrier got weaker and weaker after each time it got in contact with the fireballs, and finally the barrier broke down and left the girl vulnerable.

Her whole body crumbled to the ground. This is it... This is the end for her... No matter how desperate she pray to the gods, no matter how hard she try to cry for help, no one would come to save her...

One head of the serpent slowly open its mouth, contrentrated it power, and spit out the final fireball to finish off the girl.

And thus, another life came to an end...

Or... did it?

"Miracles will be granted to those who believe!"

An old man dress in yellow robe show up in the nick of time and save the girl from certain death, by gathering up his energy into a giant fireball and throw it at the fireball made by the eight-headed serpent, thus create a big explosion in mid-air before the fireball reached the girl.

The old man dressed in complete yellow from the top to bottom, carrying with him a big magic staff. There's no mistaking it, he definitely is The Great Teacher,...

"... Zhang Jiao?" The girl astonished by the sudden change of event.

"Not just him. I'm here for you too, little Gracia!" Another man shows up. Unlike Zhang Jiao who dressed in bright yellow from top to bottom, this big man is black like charcoal from bottom to the top, carrying with him a spiky club and a mini cannon on his back.

"Goemon! You too?" The girl got suprised again by the big man's appearance.

"Ehehe! A great thief always show up at the last minute to steal the show's attention!" The big man says, then he uses his club to smash the pile of stones burying the girl's leg, quickly hold the girl into his arms and quickly run away from the scene.

"Zhang Jiao! Treasure already secured! Gotta bounce quick!" The big man shout at Zhang Jiao.

Zhang Jiao quickly retreat back together with the big man, muttering "O ye heaven! May you protect us all from harm!" over and over again as he run.

As the way south was blocked by the serpent's flames, and the giant eight-headed serpent itself stands blocking the way to the west, the only obvious way to run is to the east. But... There's this tiny teeny little problem: The east is where most of the demons gather.

So obviously, they bumped into the demons and got surrounded. With the giant eight-headed serpent from behind, and demons in the front, the situation couldn't get more hopeless than it already is.

"Wha... What do we do now?" The girl shaken with fear in the big man's arms.

"Ooooo! Brace yourselves and pray to the heaven! A miracle will save us!" Zhang Jiao says, holding his hands up to the sky

"Hey, Zhang Jiao! This isn't the time for your miracle speeches! Save it for later..." The big man yelled at Zhang Jiao. But as he yells at Zhang Jiao, the shadows of the three on the ground start to spread out of the ground turning the ground into a bottomeless swamp and suddenly rise up and swallow them whole.

"Ahhh! What is this!" Thee big man and the girl got shocked and horrified.

Of course they would be shocked and horrified. Now, do you know any sane human who could stay calm when they suddenly get swallow by their own shadows? Well, at least I know one, that faith fanatic Zhang Jiao. Instead of being shocked and frightened like the other two, he simply let out a satisfying laugh and says "Behold, a miracle! The heaven has send a miracle to save us!" as he get swallow by his shadow.

The three got completely swallow by their shadows and completely disappeared from the surface, leaving the demons dumbfounded, and also somewhat leave the giant serpent dumbfounded too, as it still try to search around for them even when they just disappeared right in front of its eyes.

...

Did I get that right? Hmmn... I may have forgotten or mixed up something, but I think what I remember about them is mostly correct though. At least I can't get the part about them being swallow by shadows wrong, I'm the one responsible for that stun after all!

Now, about that one-eyed dragon. Have the demons finished him off yet?

Let's see... Apparently not. There's only a handful of demons left fighting him, and the dragon is still standing. Well, badly injured, but still standing.

Haaa... Those demons. Are they so useless they can't even finish one man!

Hmmn...? What now? They are turning back here? Don't tell me they are running away from that already mostly-dead man?

"Hey, you! Dodomeki! What are you doing, running away from him? Are you demons scare of a lone human?"

"You watch your mouth! We aren't scare of no one! We are leaving him to suffer the pain from the wounds and slowly die in agony! And besides, I'm Sheetweaver. Not Dodomeki!" The 'Dodomeki' talk back to me.

Yeah, right... You all look the same to me. Why should I care what your name is?

Anyway...

"So now what? Wanna head back to Koshi castle already?"

"What do you think we run to you for? Ask for your autographs?" The 'Dodomeki' replies.

"Okay then..."

With a flip of my fingers, the shadows of the demons start to spread out of the ground then rise up and swallow all of the demons just like what happened to the three humans earlier.

Now, should I head back to? Nah... Let's go over there and have a little talk to the one-eyed dragon first. No need to rush, I have time to spare.

The man is now lying on the cold ground, unable to do anything else. Well, it was natural, with all the wounds on his body, it's a miracle that he's still alive, much less standing.

Hmmn... With all the lifeless corpses of demon litter the plain, the sight of a human body lies in the middle of them all is somehow... bizzare.

I take a closer look at his face. His left eye is still open, barely open, the iris has lost its brilliance, I doubt he can see me clearly with it.

"Haaa... Had you run away, you wouldn't have ended up like this."

...

"Idiot! Imbecile! You talk to others like you're a genius, but see who's really the stupid one now?"

...

"It's not my fault that you're gonna die like this. So don't bear a grudge against me, okay?"

...

Meh... He can't hear a thing I say, he's already unconscious.

Alright then, time to head back to Koshi castle!

I snap my finger, and my shadow proceed to swallow me down to the ground. Everything in front of me turn black and I quickly disappear from the sight.

3rd POV

At Koshi castle. Gracia, Zhang Jiao and Goemon are currently being keep in a small prison cell. Gracia is just sitting on the ground, doing nothing, or perhaps she is thinking about something. Zhang Jiao is also sitting on the ground, but he's not thinking, he is mediating. On the other hand,Goemon is banging on the prison cell's door as hard as he can manage, and screaming his lung out "Hey! Anyone out there! Let us outta here! Let us outta here, you hear me!"

"Goemon... Don't you get tired yelling like that? You've been yelling for like an hour already..." Gracia says.

"Oh ah... Sorry, little Gracia. Say, how's your leg doing?" Goemon stops yelling and sit down beside Gracia.

"Thanks, Goemon. Thanks to Zhang Jiao, the pain has already stopped, but I think it's going to take sometime for my leg to heal completely." Gracia smiles gently at Goemon.

"Aha! That's good news then! Say, you impressed me, Zhang Jiao. I didn't expect your miracle blabbering to actually work." Goemon gives a thumb up at Zhang Jiao.

"The miracle works because Gracia is a true believer. If it was some heathen like you, the miracle won't bother to work."

"Yeah... Not like a great thief like need going to need a miracle or anything though." Goemon shrugs off Zhang Jiao's comment.

"Hehehe." Gracia laugh an innocent laugh at the two talk. "You guys are funny."

"Sooo... What's so funny?" An unfamiliar voice suddenly come out of a dark corner of the prison cell. Everyone immediately look in to the direction the voice comes from, with a startled and horrified look on each of their faces.

"Hey... What's with the look? I'm not a bad guy!" A man with white hair that obscures his eyes, dressed in a black robe with red patterns on it, quickly get out the dark into the light, with both of his hands raise in the air.

"Who... Who are you? How did you get in here?" Gracia unconsciously asked the man, not aware that it was him who sent the three into this prison cell in the first place.

"It's magiiic..." The man jokingly answer to Gracia's second question and waves his hands randomly in the air like he's drawing an imaginary spell circle in the air.

"Stop joking!" Goemon points his index finger to the man. "I've been searching this prison cell for hours and found no other door except that locked one right there. So how the heck did you get in here? Who the heck are you!"

"Stop it right there, no need to get all jumpy like that." The man points his index finger back at Goemon. "I just said that I got in here by magic. Believe it or not, whatever you want."

Goemon once again point his index finger at the man. He was going to object the man "There's no such thing as magic!" but he decided not to because he just realized that he is currently in the present of two other magic-users.

"Did you want to say something?"The man ask Goemon, with his index finger still point at the big man.

"Nooo..." Goemon pulls back his hand and make a 'tactical retreat'.

"Hey, hey. If you can get in, then that means you can also get out, right? So can you get us all out of this place? Can you? I'm curious!" Gracia grabs both of the man's hands, with her eyes shine brilliantly. In fact, her eyes shine so brilliantly that they made the man feels like he was sucked into her eyes. The man was literally frozen for a second before he decided to answer.

"Well... Yes, I can. But first, I must ask you to promise me to do something after I help you out, okay?" The man says.

"What is it? What do you want us to do?" Gracia get her face closer to the man's face, with her eyes shine even more brilliantly than earlier, forcing the brilliant light from those eyes of her into the man's eyes whether he has them or not or whether he like it or not.

"Hold it! Gracia!" Zhang Jiao stops Gracia before anything worse could happens. "True magic are only used to help those in need and those who truly belive! This heathen is no believer! He is just trying to trick using fancy words!"

"I am?" The man says to Zhang Jiao with a surprised tone in his voice, while quickly pull his hands away from Gracia's hands."I thought the words that I choose to use were simple enough for even a pig to understand."

"..."

"..."

"Anyway, the only true magic that can bring true peace into this troubled land is The Way of Peace! Fake magic that you heathen use will only bring disaster! O begone you foul beast of evil!" Zhang Jiao continues his speech.

"Heh, foul beast of evil? That's a rather harsh thing to say to a fellow follower of The Way of Peace, don't you think?" The man shrugs.

"Oh, you're a follower of The Way of Peace? Why didn't you say so earlier? Tell me your name, my fellow follower of The Way of Peace!"

"My name?" The man smirks. "You can call me... Yu Ji."

Yu Ji.

* * *

**Gracia: Yes! Finally! The end of chapter 5!**

**Zhang Jiao: Oh, I'm so happy I could die.**

**Sanjima: It was a pain to rewrite everything, you know?**

**Goemon: Well, at least you made it through. So be a little bit more happy, will ya?**

**Sanjima: I'm too tired from all the writing already, so I'm ending this chapter right now. See you guys again in the next chapter!**

**...**

***look to left* *look to the right* *see nobody***

**Yu Ji: YU JI HIJACK!**

**Sanjima: Wha... What are you doing! The chapter is already finished.**

**Yu Ji: Come on, I'm the POV's character of the first half! I want to say something at the end, too. You can't stop me!**

**Sanjima: Gah! Get off me!**

**Yu Ji: Vote for Yu Ji to be playable in the next game!**

**Sanjima: You! Cut! Stop! No more monkeying around! Anyway, chapter 5 has finished, please look forward to chapter 6. Thank you very much.**


	6. Chapter 6: Meanwhile, at Ueda castle

Chapter 6: Meanwhile, at Ueda castle.

It's still early in the morning...

But Yukimura and Zhao Yun are both ready to begin their daily training.

Like usual, they first do some warm up and jog a few laps around the backyard of Ueda castle. Then after about half an hour, they have both finish their warm-up.

"Finish your warm up yet? Here, take your spears."

I hand the spears to the two of them so they can finally begin their daily training. They call it 'training', but it's just them fighting each other until both of them run out stamina and drop down to the ground.

And since it's a fight, there has to be someone play the role of the referee to judge who's the winner.

And whether I like it or not, I, Saika Magoichi, get to be the referee. That's partly because I have nothing better to do so early in the morning, and partly because watching the two of fight is actually rather fascinating.

"Thanks, Magoichi. Sorry for bothering you today,too." Yukimura takes the spears from my hand, then throw one of them torward Zhao Yun.

"Thank you, master Yukimura." Zhao Yun catches the spear, then twirl his spear around a few round left then right, then he slam the spear hard to the ground before he get into his fighting stance. "Now, prepare yourself!"

Yukimura also twirls his spear around a few round left and right, but instead of slamming the spear to the ground like Zhao Yun did, he thrusts his spear forward a few thrust then finally get into his battle stance. "Ready when you are, master Zhao Yun!"

Even though it's just trainning, there's not single opening in their stance, since they both want to emerge as the victor.

They both gip their spears tightly, and look at their opponent with an intense look, while waiting for my signal to begin the match.

"Alright... Ready..."

BANG!

I fire a gunshot to the sky to signal the begin of the match.

The two of them are about 10 steps apart. But the moment I fire the gunshot, they immediately react to it and dash toward each other, closing the distance between them in a blink of an eye.

The two clash into a weapon deadlock. Neither Yukimura nor Zhao Yun shy away from the deadlock, they both use all of their strength to try to overhelm their opponent, and as a result the weapon deadlock come to a complete stalemate.

They continue to hold their ground like that for about 5 more seconds.

Seeing that they are not going to give up any time soon, I take my rifle and fire a friendly shot in between the two.

BANG!

The bullet come out of the gun and head straight to the two warriors. And just before the bullet hit their weapons, the two both jump back one step to avoid the bullet.

While Zhao Yun has to pause himself a little to balance himself, Yukimura doesn't waste any time. After he jump back, Yukimura immediately plunge forward. The different in the time used is only a little, but the time Yukimura used to plunge forward instead of recovering his balance like Zhao Yun did, gave Yukimura the advantage against Zhao Yun.

Now, Zhao Yun is on the defensive, while Yukimura is going offensive.

Yukimura grip his spear tightly, aim at Zhao Yun's chest, and thrust a decisive thrust.

Because the distance was shorten so suddenly, Zhao Yun was unable to react. Zhao Yun is still holding his spear vertically, and it's not a good sign, as the distance between the two is now less than one step, Zhao Yun can't change the way he hold his spear, either to thrust back at Yukimura, nor can he change the way he hold his spear to horizontally to guard against Yukimura's attack, as the length of the spear is now a hindrance. If he change the spear to horizontally, the side of his spear would be blocked by Yukimura's shoulder. Zhao Yun can use his strength to smash his spear down as hard as he can to stop Yukimura, but that's not possible considering that Yukimura is already ready for his attack. Before Zhao Yun could do anything, he would have stabbed already.

Yukimura on the other hand, already has his spear in ready to thrust forward, the small distance doesn't matter to him. In fact, the small distance now give him the advantage over Zhao Yun.

But...

... Zhao Yun is no ordinary man, he has agility, dexterity and skills far surpass any men I've ever met before. A situation like this is not a big problem to him.

True to what I thought. Zhao Yun show no sign of distress. While still holding the spear vertically, he slammed the spear, not to Yukimura, but to the ground, making the spear into a sturdy pole to support Zhao Yun's whole body. His feet leave the ground and up, and his whole body is now in mid-air.

Zhao Yun has skillfully dodged Yukimura's spear thrust. But Yukimura also react immediately to Zhao Yun's action. Yukimura used his left hand to grab Zhao Yun's spear and lift it off the ground, over his head and smashes Zhao Yun into the ground.

Normally, when Yukimura use that move, his opponent would be completely smashed into the ground and then knocked high into the air, and after that, his opponent would be completely out cold immediately.

Yes, normally...

Before his whole body smashed into the ground, Zhao Yun has quickly landed both his feet on the ground and made a firm stand to support himself against Yukimura, even though Zhao Yun's body is bent over.

Not wasting any more second, Zhao Yun immediately spin his body around. The spear, now currently has both of its ends being hold by both Zhao Yun and Yukimura, also get spinned around like Zhao Yun. Zhao Yun spins himself faster and faster after each spin, until Yukimura finally can't keep up with Zhao Yun and was forced to let go of the spear.

When Yukimura just let go of his hand, Zhao Yun spins another spin and quickly regain his balance and get into his battle stance once again.

"Haha! You have to try harder if you want to defeat me, master Yukimura." Zhao Yun laugh casually.

"Really? Then try this!" Yukimura laugh back at Zhao Yun, he then once again plunge forward at Zhao Yun.

Once again, Yukimura try to aim at Zhao Yun's chest. But this time, instead of one decisive thrust, he thrust his spear continuously at his opponent, he thrust the spear so fast that it looks like there are hundreds of spear thrusting all at once in the same direction.

Yukimura's move doesn't surprised Zhao Yun at all. Well, because the move isn't meant to be surprsing, it was meant to be interesting, challenging. "Let's see you counter to this one!" is probably what Yukimura wants to say to Zhao Yun through this move.

A small smile appears on Zhao Yun's face. He then procceed to change his battle stance by lowering his knees a little and has his left shoulder slightly forward.

An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, a thrust for a thrust. To counter Yukimura, Zhao Yun has used an attack exactly similar, though the way he thrust the spear is slightly different from Yukimura. Zhao Yun has also thrust the spear so that fast that he created the image of hundreds of spear thrusting at his opponent all at once just like Yukimura.

The spears hit each other countless times, sending sparks flying all over the place. It's maybe a little exaggerating, but the sparks make it looks like the two are making fireworks, rather than fighting.

"Nghh..." Yukimura grunts a little.

"What's wrong... Master Yukimura? Are you... done already?" Zhao Yun taunt Yukimura, but he himself is out breath from countering Yukimura's attacks.

The two pause their attacks for a split second. They pause themselves to summon all their strength and power for the next attack. The next attack will be the final attack to decide the outcome of this battle.

They both yell a large "Arghh!" then plunge themselves at each other and deliver the final blow. A large distorted high-pitched noise was made from steel hitting steel. Their weapons crossed. The impact send sparks, no, the impact made a small explosion in the air! The explosion ripped the air, ripped the grass on the ground from its roots and send them flying!

After delivering the final blow, the two doesn't move an inch. They just stood there with their back exposed to the other.

"..."

... Is it over yet?

"Haa..."

They both let out a sigh and turn toward each other. Now that I take a closer look at the two, I see that the spears they hold are now all bent up and unusable, perharps the impact the two warriors made was just too much for their weapons to endure. Well... Maybe it was because their skills are just too far beyond the capabilities of normal weapons... Or those cheap weapons are just too low quality to be of good use.

"That was a good fight, like always." Yukimura gives his right hand out to Zhao Yun, demanding a handshake.

"And the fight ends as a draw, like always." Zhao Yun take Yukimura's right hand and laugh casually with Yukimura.

"Daily training is good and all, but if you two keep breaking the weapons everyday like this, the weaponry is gonna run out of weapons soon, you know?"

"Ahaha! Sure, sure, we'll be more careful next time." Yukimura laughs at what I said.

"I doubt I can trust you two about that."

"But that's the good point about lord Yukimura and lord Zhao Yun, don't you agree." Said Kunoichi, who just jump down from a branch of a nearby tree.

Kunoichi appears to be holding something in her hands. Let me guess, she made some rice balls for her lord Yukimura to eat.

Kunoichi open up that thing in her hands, gives it to Yukimura and says "Here, I made some rice balls for you, lord Yukimura. Oh, and lord Zhao Yun, you come and have some of these, too."

Bullseye!

The three of them then get under the tree nearby to have a seat, and happily proceed to chow down the rice balls.

I also want to have a taste of Kunoichi's handmade rice balls, too. But too bad I've already have my breakfast just a moment ago, so I'll have to pass this opportunity. Maybe next time...

"They finished their training already? That was shorter than usual." A voice comes from behind me. I turn my head a little so my eyes can catch a glimpse at the one who just said. The first thing I can see about that person is that it's a man, he's holding a pile books on his hands and there are blood veins visible on his forehead.

"Zhuge Dan? You borrowed some more books from lord Masayuki?"

"Hmn? Yes, I want to study with lord Masayuki as much as possible. So I have to read as much books as I can while I'm still here." Zhuge Dan replies to me.

"But if you want to read some books, why not go to lord Motonari's place? He has hundred times more book than lord Masayuki for sure."

"Well, you see... I did went to see lord Motonari. But instead of studying with me, he just keep showering me with questions about myself and stuffs about history... So as a result, I ended up here." Zhuge Dan answers me with a troubled look.

"Well whatever, not that I care much about him though. Say, why don't you sit down and have a little chat with me?"

"Thank you but I must refuse. I've promised lord Masayuki to finish these books by tomorrow, so I have to back to my room to right now."

"Come on, it's okay to relax every once in while. You work so hard that I can clearly see blood veins on your forehead. Girls don't like men like you, you know?"

"Wh... Why do I have to care whether girls like men like me or not!? Besides, I was born with my face like this, I can't help it." Zhuge Dan flurstered, I can see his face blushes a little.

"Oh, so you were born with your face like that? Scary..."

"Nghmn... I'm going back to my room!" Zhuge Dan says so, and angrily leave the place.

"Ah! Ouch!"

Hmn? I heard a voice of a woman! And the sound of books falling on to the ground! Wait, before that I heard the sound of two people pumping in to each other. That must mean one thing...

"Zhuge Dan!"

I quickly stand up from where I sit and turn around to Zhuge Dan, and I can clearly see a beautiful woman on the ground, supporting herself to stand up from the fall. I immediately run torward her and offer my hand to help her stand up, never mind the pile of books scattering all over the place and the other man who is also on the ground.

"Hello there, beautiful. Sorry for the clumsiness of my friend over there. May I expiate his fault by offering you a hand to help you stand up!"

"Ah oh, thank you very much." She timidly extend her hand to hold mine. Oh, how soft and fair skin her hand is.

"I think I've just found the most beautiful girl in all Japan!"

"Ah... Oh, thank you very much." She blushed from hearing my comment about her beauty, and use the sakaki she was holding to hide her blushing face. Wow, I didn't expect that trick to actually work this time.

"Hey, Magoichi! I also fell, too. Show me some concern, will you?" I think I heard something, not that I care to reply, but it would give a bad image to the beautiful girl if I don't at least say something back to him.

""Shut up! I have a policy to always (read: only) help girls, especially beautiful girls like the one standing right here. Say, can I have the honor of knowing your name? I bet it's a really beautiful just like you."

"Ah uhmn... My name is Kaguya." Still hiding her face with the sakaki, she tell me her name timidly.

"Oooh... Kaguya? A beautiful name fitting for a beautiful girl, indeed! It reminds me about a certain Japanese folktale about a princess famous for her enchanting beauty. I bet that no matter how beautiful she is, she can never hope to compete with you. Your beauty..."

"Uhmn... I'm here to see lord Sanada Yukimura! I need to have a talk with him!" Kaguya quickly interupt my speech. Haa... I still have one hundred and eight more reasons to praise her beauty, but it seems they have to wair.

"Hmn... Yukimura, huh? Are you sure you didn't mistake Saika Magoichi as Sanada Yukimura?"

"How can that be possible? They are not written the same, they don't even sound similar!" Again, I think I heard something. Stop being so nosy, Zhuge Dan. Mind your own business, continue picking up the books!

"Master Magoichi. Please stop joking, I really need to talk with lord Yukimura, this is a very urgent matter." Kaguya bows deeply. Now, I just can't say no when she's doing this.

"Okay, okay. You can stop bowing now. Yukimura, right? He's right over there, under that tree in the backyard, see? Let's go over there and have a talk with him."

Kaguya stops her bow and return to an upright position. I then take her right hand and guide her to Yukimura.

We get to in front of Yukimura. Kaguya once again shows her coutesy by bowing 45 degrees and inroduce herself to Yukimura. "My name is Kaguya. I'm sorry for my sudden appearance, but there's a very urgent matter that I must talk with you, lord Yukimura."

Seeing Kaguya's formal act, Yukimura get up from his seat and also bow 45 degrees to Kaguya.

"Okay! Enough of the formal bowing, you two. Just sit down and take things easy. It's just a talk, not a marriage proposal."

Kaguya seems a little troubled at what I just said, but she listen to me and sit down anyway. Yukimura also do the same.

"So, what is this urgent matter you were talking about?" He asks Kaguya. But there's something stange here... It's not that he asked Kaguya about the 'urgent matter', but it's because the one who asked the question is not Yukimura, but Zhuge Dan!

"What are you doing here? I thought you said you were going back to your room?"

"Lady Kaguya said there was an urgent matter to talk with lord Yukimura! Since I'm technically currently serving lord Yukimura, it is my duty to also hear what this urgent matter is!" Zhuge Dan replies.

Since when did he serve Yukimura?

"Anyway... Lady Kaguya, if you please..." Yukimura says.

Kaguya slighty bow to Yukimura and begins to talk about the urgent matter. "This afternoon, the town at Wu Zhang plains governed by lord Sima Zhao will be attacked by the demon's army."

"Wha... What!?"

With Orochi's second defeat 3 years ago, the demon's army has also disappeared along with him. Why are they suddenly appear now? And Wu Zhang plains of all places?

"Please, do not be so panic... Please hear me out..." Kaguya kneel down to the ground, begging us to continue hear her story.

"Lady Kaguya! Please raise your head. There's no need go that far." Zhao Yun tells Kaguya.

"Thank you... I know that what I said is really hard to believe, but it's the truth. It's really going to happen!" Kaguya keep saying, with a really desperate tone in her voice. Even I hate to admit it, what she said is really kind of hard to believe, but when she says it so desperately, it's even harder to not believe in her.

"I got it, lady Kaguya. So you're here to warn us about the attack and want us to send reinforcement to help master Sima Zhao drive back the demon's army?" Yukimura asks Kaguya.

"No... You won't be able to drive back the demon's army, and you probably would arrive too late to actually do anything... I know it's hard to believe, but it's the truth!" Kaguya answers the question.

"So what should we do?" Yukimura ask.

"Even if you're late, there's people who would be able to escape the attack, so bring a small number of men who have knowledge with medical to treat the wounded and help bring them to safety."

"Kunoichi. Go and find me 50 men and 10 doctors quick! We're going to Wu Zhang Plains." Yukimura orders Kunoichi.

"Aye aye, my lord!" Kunoichi cheerfully responds, then she disappeared into thin air, leaving behind a gust of wind.

"Anything else we should know, lady Kaguya?" Yukimura asks Kaguya.

"Please, you must save lord Sima Zhao and lord Masamune!" Kaguya once again kneel down to the ground and begs us.

"We got it. Kaguya, please stop kneeling."

"Thank you, lord Magoichi... Thank you, everyone... For listening to what I have to say. Now, I must go and warned other lords about the demon's army." Kaguya bow to us all, and retreat from the backyard.

"We will meet again, right? Kaguya!"

Kaguya turns, smile at me and slightly bow. Then she retreat completely out of my sight.

"Alright, master Yukimura! Let us prepare and march to Wu Zhang Plains quick!" Zhao Yun says to Yukimura, full of enthusiam.

"Wait! If Masamune is also at that town, then I'm going with you, too."

Yukimura and Zhao Yun nod, and they both go back to their room to prepare themselves, Zhuge Dan and I also follow suit.

When Yukimura and Zhao Yun leave out my sight, Zhuge Dan, who has been very quiet for while, suddenly speak up. "Magoichi, don't you wonder how did that girl know about the demon's army attack?"

"Well, yes... But now is not the time for wondering. I'll save it for later."

"Hmn... Then I wish you, lord Yukimura and lord Zhao Yun good luck. I'll be staying here and consult with lord Masayuki about what just happened."

"'Kay then. See ya."

I say good bye to Zhuge Dan. Since I always have my rifle with me, I don't need to go back to my room to prepare like Yukimura and Zhao Yun, so I head straight to the stable to find some good horses to ride.

It's still early in the morning... So if we're fast, we should be able to arrive at the town at Wu Zhang Plains before dusk.

...

**Kunoichi: Hi hi! It's your favorite little ninja girl here!**

**Zhuge Dan: Since lord Yukimura, lord Zhao Yun and Magoichi just left Ueda castle, the two of us will have their places in this end-of-chapter-talk.**

**Kunoichi: So... what should we talk about?**

**Zhuge Dan: If you don't know what to talk about, can I ask you a question? **

**Kunoichi: Oh, you're the studious type of person, aren't you? Sure, go right ahead!**

**Zhuge Dan: Why is female ninja called kunoichi? What's so special about the word "kunoichi"?**

**Kunoichi: Hai hai! Time for a little fun fact! If you write the word ku in Hiragana (****く****), no in Katakana (****ノ****) and ichi in Kanji (****一****) on top of each other, you'll get the word onna (****女****), then kanji for woman!**

**Zhuge Dan: Oh, I have another question!**

**Kunoichi: Sure, what's the question this time?**

**Zhuge Dan: I'm Chinese. How can I read lord Masayuki's books when they are all written in Japanese?**

**Kunoichi: ...**

**Zhuge Dan: ...**

**Sanjima: Ahem! Chapter 6 is finished, please look forward to chapter 7. Thank you very much.**


	7. Chapter 7: The state of the land

Chapter 7: The state of the land.

"We did all we could... Whether he will wake up or not, it's all depend on his willpower... "

All the doctors said the exactly same thing, about the condition of the one lying unconscious in the room, the lord of the Date, Date Masamune.

Date Masamune... He witnessed his father, his wife and his best friend killed off during the demon's attack... He got so angry and despaired that he run back to face the demon's army when he himself should know best that it was suicidal... And as the result, he... And master Shigezane...

Ugh... If only... If only I had been braver and tried to stop him back then... If only I had go together with him...

"Young master?"

"Ah..."

Ma Dai...

"Don't be so hard on yourself... You did try to run to master Sima Zhao and convince him to go back as quick as you can after all..." Ma Dai put his hands on my shoulders and try to comfort me, even though his hands are visibly shaking.

"..."

"... Come on, young master... At least lord Masamune is still alive!"

"But master Shigezane..."

"... Yes... He was... unfortunate. But there's just too many demons there... What can you do?"

"..."

"Everybody is holding a war council at the main hall... So I'm heading there now, okay? Just... take your time, young master..."

Ma Dai left the room, leaving only me and lord Masamune behind.

...

"... I know that feeling."

To suddenly realize your whole family just got murdered...

To have blood rushing to your head furiously...

To be unable to think straight...

To have only one thing occupied your mind...

"... I know that..."

... What can you do?

"There's nothing I can do..."

I know that...

I know that even if I tried, he wouldn't listen. There's no way he would listen...

I know that! I know that! I know that!

But that's not acceptable! Just because I know that I can't stop him doesn't mean that I can't try! But I didn't even try! I just stand there and see lord Masamune and master Shigezane go back to meet their deaths... Because I was afraid... Afraid of seeing that giant serpent again!

You did try to run to master Sima Zhao and convince him to go back as quick as you can after all...

No... I was too afraid to go back... So I run to master Sima Zhao as fast as I can to seek help... It was master Sima Zhao who asked about lord Masamune and master Shigezane, not me... It's him who want to go back.

... It's him who want to go back...

It's master Sima Zhao...?

"Ah..."

What am I doing!? Master Sima Zhao also witnessed the whole thing. He also saw that giant serpent. He also know how terrifying that thing is, and yet he was willing to go back, he overcame his fear!

That is... That is...

"... Justice!"

Justice, justice, justice! That's right, justice! To oppose evil and to protect the weak, justice!

"Ha... Hahaha... Hahaha..."

What was that all about? I lost myself for a brief moment and forgot about the goal of my life. What's good about sitting here getting all depressed like like this? Justice isn't gonna go and serve itself. Justice needs me! And I need to bring justice back to the land! I need to purge the land from the evil demons!

"Hah... Thanks god I managed to wake up before something got worse..."

What's done is done. I can't do anything about, I need to to accept that.

"... Lord Masamune. I apologize from the bottom of my heart. I apologize for my cowardice..."

What I need to do now is to make sure that I won't repeat the mistake that I made back then.

"... But I swear... Never again, I will never make the same mistake again! I will never succumb to my fear again. I swear I will forever uphold my justice, to forever oppose evil and protect the weak."

I bow down to lord Masamune until my forehead touches the ground itself and remain at that position for a while. Maybe I was being too hopeful, I had hope that if I keep bowing with my forehead touching the ground like that, lord Masamune would somehow wake up and tell me that I annoyed him.

... But nothing happens, lord Masamune didn't respond at all. He just continue with his peaceful sleep.

...

I stop bowing, raise my head and stand up.

" I swear... Next you're in trouble, I swear I will rush to your side to help you."

I say my farewell to lord Masamune, bow to him one last time. Then, I get out of the room and head straight to the main hall.

...

A moment later, I arrive at the main hall. There, I see lord Masayuki sitting at the farthest of the hall, since he is the lord of Ueda castle, it was only natural that he would sit there. On the left side of him (that means to the right side of me) are lord Sima Zhao, lady Wang Yuanji, master Deng Ai, master Zhuge Dan and master Pang De. To the right side of him (that means to the left side of me) are lord Yukimura, master Magoichi, master Zhao Yun, and Ma Dai.

"I'm sorry I'm late..."

I apologize to everybody and slightly bow to them.

" Raise your head, master Ma Chao. You're not late, we were just starting the war council anyway." Lord Masayuki says.

"Thank you, my lord."

I raise my head and look to Ma Dai. Upon seeing me, Ma Dai waves his right hand to call me to sit next to him. And there's no reason not to, so I come over to Ma Dai and sit down.

"That was faster than I thought." Ma Dai smiles at me.

I just smile back at him without saying anything, mainly because I don't know what to say, and partly because it looks like the war council is continuing.

"Now Yukimura, as you're saying..." Lord Masayuki says to master Yukimura.

"Yes, my lord. Even though we weren't able to see the whole army, but judging from the number of corpses where we found lord Masamune, I think it's safe to assume that they aren't mere remnants of the demon's army that we all know." Master Yukimura answers.

Master Yukimura just said about when we found lord Masamune, so that means they have already talk about the whole incident at the town at Wu Zhang plains in my absent... I can't complain though, since it's my fault for being late.

"Of course they aren't just mere remnants. They have a freaking giant eight-headed serpent with them." Master Sima Zhao says.

"Ah, right... About that serpent. Anyone have any idea about what that thing is?" Lord Masayuki asks everyone.

"Oh oh, I can answer that!" An unfamilliar voice suddenly comes from behind of me. I instinctly turn back to see whose voice it is, and see that it was a man with white hair that obscures his eyes and dressed in a black robe with red patterns.

But... When I get in the main hall, there were only 10 people here in this room. So where did he come from?

"Hey... Why are you looking at me like that? I'm not a..." Before he could finish his sentence, another figure suddenly appear out of nowhere and stand right beside him, or stand right behind him to be exact, with a knife just a few centimeters away from the man's throat. It was Kunoichi.

"Ah... You... You're that man at the stable yesterday." Ma Dai speaks up.

"You know him?" Kunoichi asks Ma Dai, still holding her knife at the man's throat.

"Ah, yes... Wait, no... I mean yes! Wait... What I mean is..." Ma Dai stutters, maybe he is trying to think carfully about what to say.

"We met him yesterday." Master Pang De speaks up. "When master Ma Dai and I were looking for some horses to quickly escape from the town, we met that man."

"Yes, what he said." Ma Dai nods in agreement.

"Well, hear that? I'm not a bad guy. Now, if you please put the knife away." The man says and make a smile at Kunoichi. It just a smile, but his smile somehow gives me the creep.

"..." Kunoichi frowns a little. She doesn't put away her knife. Instead, she presses the knife closer to the man's throat, while the man just keep smiling like it was nothing.

"Kunoichi! Put the knife away." Master Yukimura orders Kunoichi.

"... Yes, my lord." Kunoichi slowly pulls the knife away from the man's throat and put it in the pocket she hangs around her waist. After that, she vanished into thin air, just as sudden as she appear.

"Now, that was heart-throbbing. Hahaha..." The man laughs and goes to the right side of me and sit down.

Now that he is closer to me, I can see his face more clearly. And it feels like that his hair wasn't obscuring his eyes, it feels like weren't anything under those bangs to begin with.

Tccht... What am I thinking? Sure, he is creepily creepy as heck, but to think like that is just too ridiculous.

"Now, where was I? Ah... That's right! About the Hydra..." The man flip his finger.

"The Hydra?"

"Yeah, you know... Because 'the giant eight-headed serpent beast' is such a mouthful, so I decide to call it 'the Hydra' for short." The man shrugs.

"Wait! Before you say anything about this Hydra... Who are you? I can't say I can trust someone when can't even at least provide his name." Lord Masayuki says.

"Ah... A name, right? Humans need names to identify each other, right? Completely forgot about that. My bad." The man laughs yet again. "Anyway, you can call me Yu Ji."

Yu Ji? The Taoist priest who wandered Jiang Dong to make people believe that he can uses magic and creates miracle, who ultimately got labeled as heretic and was executed by lord Sun Ce? That Yu Ji?

"And before anyone ask if I somehow per chance know any guy with the name start with 'Sun'. Yes, yes I do." Like he could read my mind, he confirms that he is indeed the Yu Ji that I was thinking about.

"But that's not the important thing right now." He continues. "Now, about the Hydra..."

"Wait! You haven't tell us how you get here, in the main hall of the castle." Master Zhuge Dan asks master Yu Ji.

"You're a nosy one, aren't you?" Master Yu Ji points his index finger at master Zhuge Dan.

"Well, normal human can't just suddenly appear out of thin air, right? Or are you saying you're a ninja?" Ma Dai says.

"No, not ninja. A mystic." Master Yu Ji says. "Well, I'm orginially just a Taoist, but I hang around the Mystic Realm the past few years, so yeah..."

"That still doesn't explain how you got here." Master Zhuge Dan frowns.

"You're really hard to please, you know that? Ha... Fine, I have power over shadows. You know, like how The Great Teacher Zhang Jiao have power over fire." Master Yu Ji shrugs. "And I've been staying inside master Ma Dai's shadow over there until just now."

"Say what?" Ma Dai jumps up from the floor and look down at his shadow. I also look too, but there doesn't seems to be anything out of ordinary about the shadow.

"Relax. I'm sitting right here, so your shadow is back to normal already." Master Yu Ji grins. "Anyway, that's not the important thing right now. And don't you dare interupt me again, got it? Even I have something called 'patience', got it?"

Hearing he said that, no one dare to say another word. Then, he continues.

"Okay, now... About the Hydra. I don't know when it first appear, but I first saw it at the ruin of Koshi castle just a month ago. At first, it just stand around the ruin and isn't much of a threat, but as time passes, it get more and more aggressive, and it start to wreak havoc at the ruin of of Koshi castle. I manage to confine it somewhere thanks to my ability. But because of its aggressiveness, I have to transfer it outside for it to blow off some steam every once in a while."

"And you let it out to destroy the town yesterday!?"

"Yes." He nods without even thinking twice.

"Why you..."

!

Before I realized it, both of my hands have already grabbed his robe and pull him closer to me.

"Calm... Calm down, young master!" Ma Dai grab my hands, try to stop me. I know it's not just or Ma Dai who got surprised, everyone do. But what he just said is too ridiculous for me to ignored.

"Yes, calm down and listen to me, master Ma Chao." Yu Ji says.

"Calm down? How can I calm down? Do you know how many innocent people died during that attack!?"

"That's why I said you should calm down and listen to me. I swear that I tried to save as many people as I could."

"What? How!?"

"Sucks them into their shadows and transfer them elsewhere, like what I did just now. You saved some, I saved some, only a very few unfortunate were killed during the attack yesterday." Saying so, Yu Ji grabs both of my hands and try to take them off his robe.

"But you did release that monster out there to kill people! Lord Masamune's family was killed during that attack, and lord Masamune himself is still unconscious! That's absolutely unforgivable!" I tighten my grip on his robe as I shout at his face.

"Master Ma Chao, calm down, will you? I'm not a god, how am I suppose to know lord Masamune would be at that town at that time? And if there's anyone who suppose to be angry, it's Sima Zhao! Not you!"

Ah... That's right. The town at Wu Zhang plains was under master Sima Zhao's govern. If there's anyone who should be angry the most, it's him. But he's been quiet all this time. He knows that getting angry won't do any good about what already happened, so he stay quiet and listen to Yu Ji to prepare for the best approach in the future.

I didn't realize that. I... was too hot-headed and too immature.

"Sorry, master Yu Ji... Sorry, everyone... I was too impulsive." I release my hands from master Yu Ji's robe and apologize to him and everyone, and sit down to the floor.

"No problem. Now, get back to the topic. The problem isn't just the Hydra, there are also the reptilian army of Orochi too, remember?" Master Yu Ji says.

"That's right. Isn't the demon's army suppose to vanished along with Orochi when we defeat him 3 years ago?" Master Yukimura asks.

"That's the problem. Da Ji and Himiko escaped imprisonment in the Mystic Realm and ran to this world. Kiyomori also got resurrected, bringing the whole demon's army with him." Master Yu Ji says.

What!? First, the Hydra appeared, then Da Ji and Himiko escaped from the Mystic Realm, then Kiyomori got resurrected and bring the whole demon's army with him? It's just one bad news after another.

"I don't know where Da Ji and Himiko currently are. But Kiyomori is currently somewhere in Wu, I think he is waging war with the Sun family." Master Yu Ji continues. "And... Dong Zhuo is colluding with Kiyomori, except that Dong Zhuo isn't fighting the Sun family with Kiyomori, he is planning to take control of the northwest area first before heading southeast to meet Kiyomori's army. Starting from his home base at An Ding, he is preparing to attack Wu Wei as we speak..."

"What!?" Me, Ma Dai and Pang De all yell at what master Yu Ji just said.

"Then what are we waiting for? We have to hurry to reinforce Wu Wei fast!" Master Pang De says, slamming his fist to the wooden floor.

"Not so fast, master... Pang De, right?" Master Yu Ji hold out his right hand at master Pang De to stop him from doing anything further. "I drived master Ma Chao, master Ma Dai and you out of Wu Wei for a reason."

"Say what!?"

Not again! This is the third time already! Everytime master Yu Ji open his mouth to say something, he gives another shocking news to me.

"You're the one who told that woman to give us the letter?" Ma Dai asks.

"Ah, about that... I wrote the letter, and I'm also that woman." Master Yu Ji shrugs.

Again, what!?

"Now, before any of you have any funny idea. All I did was dyed my haird black with my shadow and talk in a higher pitch. I can't shape-shifting, okay?" Master Yu Ji says.

"Wh... Why go all the trouble? Can't you just be like you are now and talk to us normally?" Ma Dai asks.

"Hello? Look at me! White long hair that obscurses both of my eyes and dressed in a black robe with red patterns that gives off a mysterious aura! It's basically screaming 'totally suspicious'." Master Yu Ji says.

I hate to admit it... But he tells the truth.

"Another thing is..." Master Yu Ji continues. "If I just walk to master Ma Chao and start blabbling about demon this, demon that. I'll probably be grabbed in the neck like master Ma Chao just did."

Again... He tells the truth.

"Back to Wu Wei... I did what I did to avoid unnecessary bloodshed. If you three remain at Wu Wei, there will surely be a fierce long fight between lord Ma Teng's army with Dong Zhuo's army and many men will fall. But with you three absent, Dong Zhuo can quickly take Wu Wei in a single night, or at most a day." Master Yu Ji says.

"How?" Master Sima Zhao speaks up for the first time. "Are you saying that Dong Zhuo's army has superior number better officers?"

"Not quite..." Master Yu Ji tilts his head.

"Dong Zhuo has his men planted in lord Ma Teng's ranks, correct?" Lady Wang Yuanji says.

"Sharp mind you have there." Master Yu Ji smiles.

"But that's impossible! If Dong Zhuo had his men planted in my father force, we would have notice it right away!"

"What if he didn't plant his men. But rather... Lord Ma Teng's men willingly agree to Dong Zhuo's plan?" Master Yu Ji says.

"You mean there are traitors in our ranks!? That's absurd!" Master Pang De slams his fist to the ground. I can't blame him for getting angry like that though, master Yu Ji keep saying ridiculous things like that one after another without a sign of stopping.

"I'm just telling you what I know. Believe it or don't, whatever you want." Master Yu says like he doesn't care.

"You've been telling us nothing but incredible events. Even if you claim yourself to be a Mystic, there's no way you can know that much information. Just... who are you really suppose to be?" Master Zhuge Dan questions master Yu Ji.

"Isn't that obvious, master Zhuge Dan?" Lady Wang Yuanji says. "To know that much about what the demon's army is doing, surely he must hold a position in their ranks..."

What!? What!? What!?

I look to master Yu Ji. He doesn't deny what lady Wang Yuanji just said, instead he just grin at her and says."I think I'm starting to like you, my lady. Yes, I'm officially an officer of Kiyomori."

Everybody in the hall got shocked from master Yu Ji's response.

I can't tell if he's joking or he's serious anymore... If he's serious, is he so insane that he doesn't realize that he is an enemy of humanity?

"You... You chaotic insane demon, begone! This place isn't a playground for you to mess around!" Master Zhuge Dan angrily shout to master Yu Ji, he even stand up from the floor and walk to master Yu Ji like he's trying to get in a fight with master Yu Ji. But master Deng Ai has hold master Zhuge Dan back before he even take one step.

"Master Deng Ai...? What are you doing? Let me go!" Master Zhuge Dan struggles to get out of master Deng Ai's grip but in vein.

"Calm down, Zhuge Dan." Master Sima Zhao speaks up." If master Yu Ji here is really an officer of Kiyomori's army, then you should treat him with respect."

"Wh... What are you saying, Sima Zhao!? Have you lost your mind!? He said he's one of those demons! Why should i treat him with respect!?" Master Zhuge Dan shout at master Sima Zhao while still trying to get out of master Deng Ai's grip.

"You're really a short-sighted man, Zhuge Dan." Master Sima Zhao scratches his head. "Ha... What a bother. Deng Ai, explain to him."

"Yes." Master Deng Ai nods to master Sima Zhao's order and asks master Zhuge Dan. "Master Zhuge Dan, did you consider why master Yu Ji is telling us about all these things?"

"There is a reason? Isn't he just trying to confuse us with false informations and then attack us when we let our guard down?" Master Zhuge Dan answers.

"No, we saw how devastating the Hydra was. There's no need for him to spread false information." Master Deng Ai says.

"Then what does he want? And let go of me already, master Deng Ai!" Master Zhuge Dan says.

"Ah, I apologize." Master Deng Ai let go of master Zhuge Dan and turns to look at master Yu Ji."If we want to know master Yu Ji's true intention, I think we should ask him directly."

"Then said so from the beginning! You almost make me choke to death!" Master Zhuge Dan uses his fan to smack master Deng Ai's head like a child smacking a toy hammer to his father's head. The sight is strangely amusing...

"Ahem..." Master Yu Ji coughs a little to gain everyone's attention. "Everyone pay attention, please. I don't want to drag this chapter longer than it already is, okay?"

... What... is he talking about?

"Anyway... Yes, I'm officially an officer of Kiyomori, but for a very good reason. Remember the last war with the demon's army? It took 6 major forces of this land, Shu, Wei, Wu, the Oda, the Uesugi, and the Takeda, to unite to defeat the demon's army. But that was already 3 years ago. Now, Kiyomori and the demon's army have been resurrected to be even more powerful than before, surely anyone who present in the attack yesterday would notice the demon's strength..."

Yes... Master Yu Ji was right. Yesterday, I fought a bnuch of demons and they were noticeably stronger and faster than they did 3 years ago.

"And not to mention that they also have the Hydra as a secret weapon..." Master Yu Ji continues. "The war this time won't be like the war 3 years ago. You will need all the strength and informations you can get. And I'm playing the role of information dealer for you humans, got it?"

Everyone stay silent for a brief moment to try to go over everything master Yu Ji has said and everyone all agree believe him.

"Right!" Lord Masayuki speaks up. "Since the Mystic had helped us to win against the demon's army during the last war. We will trust you, master Yu Ji."

"Good. Now, I've tell you what I know. Any question about them or about what to do?" Master Yu Ji asks.

"I have a question." Master Sima Zhao raises his hand. "You said Kiyomori is currently waging war with the Sun family, right? So how long have the war been going on? How did we not know anything about that?"

"I think about a week or so. The Wu's territory consists of Wu, Jian Ye, Chang Sha, Kyoto and Shikoku, all of which are surround by water. It's fairly easy for Kiyomori to cut them off with the rest of the world, so it's understandable that no words about the war have been able to reach you." Master Yu Ji answers.

That, and the fact that Wu is way down south from here. It takes more than just a week to travel from the south the central land, and almost a month to reach us here, at the northeast of the land.

"What about Shu or Wei? Have Kiyomori do anything to their forces yet?" Master Zhao Yun, who has been silent from the start, asks.

"No. At least I don't think so. But if Dong Zhuo is going to head southward to meet Kiyomori, it is very likely that he wil attack Shu once he takes Wu Wei for himself." Master Yu Ji ponders.

"And about Wu Wei..."

"Wu Wei will go down either tonight or tomorrow's morning. You won't be able to prevent it, so forget about heading back to Wu Wei, master Ma Chao." Master Yu Ji pats me on my shoulder.

"But what about my father, my family?"

"I can guarantee their safety. Dong Zhuo only interests in gold and women, so it won't be hard to persuade him. I only need to say something like sending your family to Kiyomori..." Master Yu Ji reassures me. But the idea of having my family being sent to Kiyomori to be tortured is just disturbing...

"Any more questions?" Master Yu Ji asks once more.

"So right now, we should have some men to head Shu to warn lord Liu Bei, and have some men head to Wei to tell lord Cao Cao about Wu to ask for reinforcement, right?" Lord Masayuki asks.

"Exactly." Master Yu Ji nods.

"Hey, wait!" Master Magoichi raises his hand to ask a question. "Can't you just teleport yourself to other lords and tell them about these things yourself? I will save much more time, no?"

"I can't. I can only go from my shadow to another when I've met that person before. I've never met Liu Bei or Cao Cao, so it's out of the question. Life ain't so easy, you know?" Master Yu Ji sighs.

"Well, that's a let down..." Master Magoichi sighs, too.

"Well then... If there's nothing else, I'm leaving, okay? You guys better starting moving soon, too. The sooner you warn the others, the better you can prepare to fight, after all." After saying that, master Yu Ji stand up, he snaps his fingers, and his shadow on the floor rises up to the air and swallows all of his body. And the next second, he's already gone.

That was... an eye-opening sight. Guess there's many way to teleport youself, huh?

Anyway... I turns to lord Masayuki and bow my head down to the floor.

"Lord Masayuki! It's only approriate that I, the tiger general of Shu, to go warn lord Liu Bei about the demon's army. I ask that you please provide me some of your men so I can safely reach Cheng Du!"

"Master Ma Chao, please raise your head. I'll provide you with any help I can, even if you don't ask. I'll provide you 500 men to accompany you." Lord Masayuki replies.

"Thank you, lord Masayuki!"

I thanks lord Masayuki, and raises my head.

Then, master Zhao Yun and Ma Dai both follow suits and bow down to lord Masayuki.

"I, also and officer of Shu! I wish to accompany master Ma Chao on his journey!" Somehow, they both say the exact same line.

"Alright, I'll allow you two to accompany master Ma Chao." Lord Masayuki says. "But instead of going straight to Cheng Du, it's better if you three head for Tian Shui first. Since if Dong Zhuo want to attack Shu, he will have to go through Tian Shui first. So telling lord Jiang Wei to prepare to fight should be your top priority."

"Yes, my lord!" Master Zhao Yun, Ma Dai and I all bow to lord Masayuki and raise their heads.

"What about you, master Pang De? Aren't you coming too?" I ask master Pang De, who is sitting across me, with a small voice, so as not to disturb the others.

"My apology, master Ma Chao. But I want to stay here at Ueda castle. There are... things I need to confirm first." Master Pang De answers.

It must something important if master Pang De has to confirm it himself. Ah... It's truly unfortunate, but I guess it can't help.

"And, about you, master Sima Zhao..." Lord Masayuki looks to master Sima Zhao's direction.

"Huh... Yes, my lord?" Master Sima Zhao clumsily answers lord Masayuki. Was he not paying attention, or was he busy thinking about something?

"We need somebody to go to Chang An tell lord Jia Xu there about what we heard, too. You won't mind going, will you?" Lord Masayuki asks.

"Haaa... What a bo... Ah, I mean... Yes, gladly." Master Sima Zhao slightly bows to lord Masayuki. "And naturally, Yuanji and Deng Ai are coming with me too, right?"

"Sure." Lord Masayuki replies.

So... I, Ma Dai and master Zhao Yun are going to Tian Shui. Lord Masayuki, master Yukimura, master Zhuge Dan, master Magoichi are staying here at Ueda castle. Oh, and Kunoichi too... While master Sima Zhao is going to Chang An with lady Wang Yuanji and master Deng Ai? Sure, sounds reasonable enough...

...

Master Deng Ai... Master Deng Ai?

Wait...

Something just... Something just flashes over my mind...

Wait...

"Wait!"

"Hmn...? Yes, what is it, master Ma Chao? Do you perhaps have something to say?"

Ah... I said 'wait!' without even realizing it. What now? I wasn't going to say anything. It was just a slip of the tongue.

But... There's this disturbing feeling that I can't explain... Something about master Deng Ai?

Agh... And I was suppose to be the one who told Ma Dai not to worry too much!

"Master Ma Chao? Is something wrong?" Seeing my troubled look, lord Masayuki asks worrily.

Ah, no... It's just..."

I turn my gaze to master Deng Ai. What could possibly go wrong? I mean... Master Deng Ai is an honorable warrior with both brawn and brain, very trustworthy as an ally and very formidable as an ... There's still something... I feel something really disturbing about him... Is master Deng Ai gonna...

"Can I... Can I ask master Deng Ai to accompany me? You know... Because I heard that master Deng Ai is an expert at mountanous geography, so I thought... Maybe I can ask him to look for some shorter routes so we can arrive at Tian Shui sooner..."

"Hmn... That does sound reasonable." Lord Masayuki stroked his chin thinking, and then asks master Deng Ai. "Do you have any problem with that, master Deng Ai?"

"I'll gladly accompany master Ma Chao on his journey, my lord. But I can't just leave master Sima Zhao and lady Wang Yuanji and go off on my own." Master Deng Ai answers.

Ah... Right, it's dangerous to leave master Sima Zhao and lady Wang Yuanji alone. Who knows if they won't run into something dangerous along the way?

"Ah, alright then! I'll go with the lady and her husband there." Master Magoichi raises his hand to voice his opinion. "We'll pass through Saika village first and ask for some more of my Saika Rebels to tag along, too. So no more problem, no more worry, eh?"

"If you can guarantee their safety, then I have no objection." Master Deng Ai replies.

Good! Then it's settle that master Deng Ai is coming along with me. Though I still don't know what will happen, but if I can keep an eye on him, everything will turn out okay.

... I hope.

"Well then..." Lord Masayuki claps his hands. "We've went through everything we need. This war council is officially over. Now, master Ma Chao and master Sima Zhao, do you want to spend the night here or..."

"I'll leave for Tian Shui immediately! The sooner I go, the sooner I arrive!"

"Uh yeah... I also need to pay a visit to Saika village before heading to Chang An, so I also think it's best to leave now." Master Magoichi says.

"Good!" Lord Masayuki stroke his chin again. "Then I wish everyone good luck."

And with that, the war council is officially over...

* * *

**Sanjima: Do you guys realize that you just made the longest chapter ever since this fanfic began?**

**Yu Ji: Hey, it's a war council, it's suppose to be long! If you want to blame someone for making this chapter unnecessary long, blame it on Ma Chao.**

**Ma Chao: Wa... What!? What did I do!?**

**Yu Ji: If your incomprehensible blabbing at the start of the chapter isn't pointless and unnecessary, then I don't know what is.**

**Ma Chao: Why, you! That's called character development! Not incomprehensible blabbing!**

**Sanjima: Okay, guys, stop! If you two fight here then this chapter is gonna be even longer than it already is!**

**Sanjima: Ah, anyway... Chapter 7 is finished, please look forward to chapter 8. Thank you very much.**


	8. Chapter 8: Change of plan

Chapter 8: Change of plan.

After the war council finished, we hurriedly began making preparations to head to our destinations: The group of master Ma Chao will head to Tian Shui, while my group will head for the Saika village for a short time and immediately head to Chang An afterward.

But before we seperated to head to our destination, master Ma Chao said something that bothered me. He said: "Thank you, for telling everyone to go back to save lord Masamune."

But... Did I actually tell everybody to do so? I only remember asking where was lord Masamune when I saw master Ma Chao again. And then... we just sort of going back. Wait a minute... Did we go back first, or did we meet master Yukimura first?

Now that I think abou it... Why did master Yukimura come there in the first place? There's no way he would just happened to went on a walk that day, would he? Or... Did he somehow know about the attack?

...

Maybe I'll ask Magoichi about it later... For now, let's go over what Yu Ji said one more time.

He said he's a Mystic? If so why didn't he mention anything about the other Mystics? Surely they don't just think 'Oh, it's just a harmless little snake, it won't be a problem. Just let the humans play with them.' If the Mystics is aware of the Hydra's existence, then they should have done something about it, not letting it loose like that.

And then there's that thing about him being a spy to obtain informations for us. He maybe telling the truth, but there's also the possibility the he lied. But if he was lying, what's the point? To try to confuse us with false informations like Zhuge Dan said? No, that's not very likely. Had Yu Ji wanted to spread false informations, he should have done so at somewhere else, Ueda is not a very strategic location nor a heavy-defended castle nor the characters stationed there are important characters.

...

Shhh... All this thinking is making my head explode.

"Haa... What a bother..."

I sigh as I lay down on the tatami.

"What's taking so long?"

When we arrived at the Saika village, Magoichi show me his house and told me to wait here, while he go to have a talk with the Saika Rebels. Yuanji's supposed to wait here with me too, but she said she wanted to go with Magoichi to get to know the faces of the Saika Rebels. I should have went with her, but it was too much of a bother so I wait here.

But it has been more than an hour already. What's taking so long?

...

"It's so boring here... Maybe I should go take a walk outside."

Thinking so, I get up from the tatami, get out of the room and out of Magoichi's house.

Saika village is just a small village so there's really nothing noteworthy to see, so I just casually stroll around.

Maybe I should go find a tavern to get something to eat. I haven't had anything to eat since the morning, and it's already past noon. My stomach is growling here.

...

Oh... Something smells good. I know this smell... It's the smell of... Meat bun? Yes, definitely meat bun, the favorite food of a certain cold-blooded brother.

I follow the smell and arrive at a small meat bun shop. The young lady, who I think is the owner of the shop, notice me and ask. "Welcome. Would you want some meat bun? These meat buns are very delicious and they are very cheap, too."

"What's the price for 1 meat bun?"

"Oh, that would be 200 gems, sir. (I'm using the gems from WO3 as currency, and the price of the meat buns from DW5XL as the standard price.)

"Then 2 meat buns, please. Here, 400 gems."

"Thank you very much." The young lady take the gems and hand me a small bag with the meat buns, smiling. "We hope to see you again."

Hmn... The meat buns sure smell good, let's see if the taste is as good as the smell.

I take a meat bun out of the bag and bring it to my mouth.

"Ah..."

... I was going to eat the meat bun, but there's something that made me unable to... A small girl from the tavern across from me is looking at me with drools all over her face.

"..."

Is she... looking at the meat bun in my hand?

"Eh..."

I stop the meat bun from going in my mouth. And instead, I hold the meat bun out torward the direction of the small girl and ask. "Do you want one?"

The small girl nods. She gets up from her seat and run torward me. She hold out both her hands to accept the meat bun, and politely bow to me to thank. "Thank you very much, mister."

The girl is dressed in a cloak that covers her whole body so I can't see her face clearly, but her voice... sounds familiar to me. Is she someone I know?

"Hey. Are you..."

"Agh! What are you doing!? I thought I told you to wair for me at the tavern!" A woman's voice violently stop me from finishing my sentence. The woman, who is also dressed in a cloak that completely cover her body, runs over to the small girl.

Unlike the little girl, the woman's voice DEFINITELY sounds familiar to me.

"Are you..."

"Huh? Who the heck are you?" The woman speaks, glaring at me, or at least I think she does.

So she doesn't regconize who I am. Okay, let's play dumb and see where this is going.

"Just a passing by Ka... I mean, just a passing by man. I saw the little girl looking at the meat buns over there with drools all over her face, so I thought I should buy one for her."

"Yes, he gave me a meabun. He's really kind, Da..." The small girl was going to say more, but the woman quickly covers the small girl's mouth.

"Call me big sis, remember?" The woman says.

Try to hide her identity, I see. But I fear it's already too late for that, Da Ji and Himiko!

"Ehehe... Thank you buying a meat bun for my little sister. If you don't mind, we're leaving." Da Ji says so, then urges Himiko to hurry to leave.

"Oh ah, okay then..."

Not good... Da Ji's trying get away. I better think of something quick.

"Hey, wait a minute!"

"What now? Want me to pay for the meat bun?" Da Ji says.

"... No... It's not safe for two girls to wander off alone, so I thought I'd ask to accompany you."

"Well, thank you. But sorry to disappoint you, we're not so weak that we need you to 'accompany' us." Da Ji smirks at what I said.

"Yes, that's right." Himiko jumps torward me. "Big sis and me are super strong. So there's no need to worry. And we're heading to Dongkou to beat up some bad guys... Uwaaa"

Da Ji quickly covers Himiko's mouth, but it's too late.

"Kids these days sure have some big fantasy, don't they?"

"Ehehe... They sure do... Well, see ya." Da Ji forces a fake laugh, and quickly take Himiko's hand and run away.

Hmn... Dongkou, eh?

... Where's Dongkou anyway?

At times like this that I regret dumping all the work to Deng Ai and live an ignorance life...

Might as well head back to Magoichi's house and ask him about it.

...

I return to Magoichi's house. But it looks like no one else has return here yet.

"They sure take their time..."

I strectch my arms and let out a sigh.

Haa... There's no telling how long will I have to wait, so I might as well take a nap to pass the time.

With that, I lie down to the tatami, close my eyes and think again about everything until I doze off.

... ...

...

"My lord. Please, wake up." A voice wakes me up from my nap.

"Oh, Yuanji. You're back?"

I got up from the tatami and slap my cheek a little to snap out of the sleepiness. I look around the room. Yuanji is back with Magoichi, follow them are another two men. One is clad in full red armor, and the other has a scar on his left cheek.

"Those two are..."

"Oh, you don't know who they are? Just how ignorance were you?" Magoichi acts surprised.

Well... Sorry for not knowing every single men in this world.

"Hey, Magoichi. You can't blame the kid for not knowing who is who. It's not like we're some celebrity or anything." The man with the scar introduces himself. "Sakon. Shima Sakon."

"Shima... Sakon?"

Shima Sakon. The man who plays an important role in both previous wars with Orochi's army. In the first war, he convinced Sun Ce to rebel against Orochi, thus took away an important asset of Orochi's army and made a turning point for the Coalition to counterattack, leading to their decisive victory. And in the second war, he discovered Kiyomori's plan to resurrected Orochi and quickly notified and united the three most powerful clans of the Sengoku Era to put a stop to Kiyomori's plan.

Man... I feel like an idiot for not knowing his face until now.

"Master Sakon. I heard that you're suppose to be a very talented strategist and warrior. What are you doing in this small village?"

"I was just having my day off." Sakon answers.

"That's it? I was hoping for something... more 'plot-twisting'."

"Then... You, in the red armor?"

"My name's Taishi Ci. I believe this is the first time we've met." The man in the red armor replies.

Taishi Ci?

... Doesn't ring a bell. Oh wait, he's... Hmn... Hmn... Taishi Ci, clad in full red armor?

"Aren't you... suppose to be an officer of Wu? What are you doing here?"

"Well, I'm a warrior at heart, so all the paper work in the time of peace doesn't suit me. So I left Wu to travel around this world the past years. I just happen to arrive at Sakai village yesterday." Taishi Ci answers.

"No. What I mean is... Didn't you hear the news about Kiyomori attack on Wu?"

"Yes, I did. Magoichi and lady Yuanji just tell me about it just now." Taishi Ci answers.

"Then why are you so calm? Don't you worry about your friends at Wu?"

"I AM worried. But we're so far away from Wu to do anything at the moment. If there's anything I should do, it's to help you, master Sima Zhao, to prepare to fight the demon's army. That, and I trust in the abilities of soldiers of Wu."

He knew about the news, and yet he doesn't act shocked. He's calmer than I thought. So not all warriors are hot-headed like Ma Chao.

"Okay, finished the introductions yet?" Magoichi claps his hands to gain our attention, or my attention to be exactly. "Sima Zhao. Guess who did I met when I was out."

"If it's some pretty girl, then I'm not interested. There's something important I want to talk with you guys right now."

"What if that pretty girl happens to have the name 'Da Ji'? Don't tell me you're not interested?"

Kuh...

"You saw Da Ji, too?"

"Too?" Yuanji looks at me with a suprised look. "My lord. Don't tell me you saw her, too?"

"Wait, tell me what were you guys doing with Da Ji first. I'll tell what happened to me afterward."

"It just kind of happens." Sakon says. "I was checking the goods that the merchants just brought over for the village with Taishi Ci. Then we discovered that one of the merchants happen to be Da Ji. She escapes, and we give chase. On the way we met Magoichi and lady Yuanji and tell them to help, but we lost sign of Da Ji shortly after."

...

There's... something about that story.

"Any comment about what I just said, Sima Zhao?" Sakon asks me.

"Well, ah... Don't you think that it's too convenient that a merchant here happens to be Da Ji? What is she doing here in the first place. And if she had something to do here, why did she let herself be spotted that easily? She can transform into other people after all?"

"Good. So you're not as stupid as Zhuge Dan said you were." Sakon nods his head in amusement.

"What does that suppose to mean?"

"Don't pay attention to the small details. Tell me what do you think about Da Ji's behavior?" Sakon continues with his question.

"She disguise herself as a merchant, right? So maybe she was trying to steal the goods or try to exchange the real ones with the fake ones. Did you check the goods yet?"

"Yes, my lord. Once we lost sign of Da Ji, we immediately went back to the merchants and check the goods with them. That's why we were late to return." Yuanji quickly answers my question.

"And..." Sakon continues. "The trading goods are intact. But we lost some of the supplies and weapons. Any comment, Sima Zhao?"

Stolen supplies and weapons, huh? Just what is Da Ji up to?

'And we're heading to Dongkou to beat up some bad guys...'

What Himiko said suddenly pop up in my mind.

"Ah, that's right! Master Sakon, where's this place called Dongkou?"

"Dongkou? It's a bit south of here? But what does that..."

"I also met Da Ji earlier. I saw her together with Himiko and Himiko said something about beating some bad guys at Dongkou. So I think whatever Da Ji is doing, it has to have something to do with Dongkou!"

"But why Dongkou? There's nothing there." Taishi Ci wonders.

"Maybe? But what about the area around Dongkou? It could be that Dongkou is just a stepping stone for Da Ji to aim at something bigger."

"Ah, let's see." Magoichi thinks for a moment then speaks. "West of Dongkou has He Fei. East is Chang Ban, a little further east is Shou Chun. Cross the river and go south is Yi Ling. A little further southeast is Odawara."

"What's further south of Odawara?"

"Hmn... I don't really remember. The Saika Rebels only do bussiness around this part of the land after all." Magoichi shakes his head.

"Isn't further south of there is where Wu located?" Sakon asks Taishi Ci. "Taishi Ci. Do you remember what's further south of Odawara?"

"Hmn... Let me see... I think there's Nagashino and Tao shui. I don't remember which is closer to Odawara, but I remember that further south of Tao Shui is definitely Chang Sha, and from there is the territory of Wu."

South of Dongkou is Odawara, and further south of Odawara is Wu?

Kiyomori is attacking Wu, and Da Ji planning something with Dongkou. South of Odawara is Wu, and north of Odawara is Dongkou...

Is Da Ji planning to pincer Odawara from both sides?

But wait... If Da Ji want to go for a pincer, then Kiyomori must be free from whatever he is doing to help her with the pincer. Then doesn't that mean that Wu...?

Wait, don't jump to conclusion yet. It's too early to assume that Kiyomori has already finish his bussiness with Wu.

And if she wanted to attack Odawara from Dongkou, where did she manage to find enough manpower around here to form an army? And why did she try to steal the supplies and weapons, but only stole some of them but not all? And there's the problem of Da Ji being so easily spotted that I said earlier, too...

Gah... Just what the hell is going on here!? I can't think of a logical explanation for all of these things.

"How about heading to Dongkou right now?" Magoichi suggests. "It's not like sitting here will do us any good."

"I object." Yuanji objects Magoichi's suggestion. "What we know at the moment is too little to draw any conclusion yet. Heading to Dongkou without knowing what to expect is jsut suicidal."

"I object." Sakon objects Yuanji's suggestion. "Being caution is good. But a good strategist need to be flexible act accordingly to the situation. Heading to Dongkou to investigate sounds good to me."

"I also agree with master Sakon." Taishi Ci nods.

"Hmn... My lord. What about you? What do you think we should do?" Yuanji asks me. "You should remember that we also need to head to Chang An to inform master Jia Xu about the demon's army as soon as possible. We shouldn't waste time doing anything needless."

Yuanji's right. But what Sakon said is true too.

To Dongkou or to Chang An?

"..."

"Sorry, Yuanji. But I think we should head to Dongkou to investigate like master Sakon said. We can head to Chang An after that."

"No, my lord. If you think it's the right thing, then I have no objection." Yuanji slightly smiles.

So... Instead of heading to Chang An like expected. I changed the plan and turn torward Dongkou.

I don't whether that decision is good or bad.

But do know one thing...

... That the decision to head to Dongkou is going to bring great changes to my life in the future.

* * *

**Sima Zhao: It's the end of the chapter already, but I think that I forgot something.**

**Sakon: Forgot to ask me an autograph? I'd be glad to give you one right now.**

**Sima Zhao: No, why would I want to your autograph? Ah... Wait, I remember what it is now...**

**Sakon: So what did you forget?**

**Sima Zhao: The meat bun! I bought 2 meat buns, I gave Himiko 1, so there's suppose to be another left. But it completely disappeared when I got back to Magoichi's house.**

**Sakon: Don't bother with the small details. Sanjima probably just forgot about it.**

**Sima Zhao: But i paid for those meat buns and I wasn't able to eat even one. It's not fair!**

**Sanjima: Okay, stop complaining. You're starting to act like Sima Shi, it's not funny.**

**Sanjima: Anyway, chapter 8 is finished, please look forward to chapter 9. Thank you very much.**


	9. Chapter 9: At Tetorigawa

**Ah... Sorry for no update for 2 months, school started again and I just kind of lost motivation to continue writing. But I just found out news about Dynasty Warriors 8 last week and finally got my motivation back. So after this chapter, I'll try to update weekly, but no promises. Ahaha...**

Chapter 9: At Tetorigawa.

As Sima Zhao's group headed to Dongkou, Ma Chao's group is on their way torward Tian Shui. Their journey was going smoothly, until they come across a place called Tetorigawa.

When Ma Chao's group arrived at Tetorigawa, they discovered a significant number of demons stationed there, along with a large number of siege weapons and wooden material and stones.

When one look at the sight, it's easy to see that the demons are making preparation on an attack on some castle nearby.

So, Ma Chao ordered his troops to camp on a cliff just across a river from where the demons stationed, and asked his friends opinions about how to act.

"We can't just ignore the demon's army now that we're here. So, does anyone have any suggestion about what to do?" Ma Chao asks.

"Young master." Ma Dai speaks. "Originally, we only aim to head to Tian Shui as soon as possible, so we only ask lord Masayuki for a handful of soldiers, 500 men to be exact, to accompany us. With our small number, I fear that we won't be able to meet them head on."

"So that's why I'm asking for your suggestions about what to do. Since I'm no good with thinking." Ma Chao sighs.

Ma Chao then take another look at the camps of the demon's army. Since he's currently at a higher ground, he can clearly see their camps. The camp nearest to them is the smallest camp with not much demons nor siege weapons, but there are some arbalests there.

Further to the east that camp are another 2 camps. Ma Chao doesn't see any siege weapons in those camps, but he can see a lot of demons stationed in those 2 camps, so he assumed that there's something important in those camps that needs a lot of protecting.

There are some more camps down south, but there's a river seperated those camps with the rest, which makes it impossible for Ma Chao to look at since they are too far, so Ma Chao don't know if there's many demons in those camps or not. But there are some large siege weapons, like siege towers and catapults, visible.

Ma Chao keep thinking up a plan as he continued to look over the demon's camps. Then Zhao Yun speaks up, suggesting a plan.

"How about we make a surprise attack on their camp?" Zhao Yun suggests.

"A surprise attack?" Ma Chao's surprised at Zhao Yun's suggestion, but then a smile blooms on Ma Chao's face. "That's right! A surprise attack! If we can take surprise the demons and take over their siege weapons, we can use those siege weapons to keep those demons at bay."

"Yes, master Ma Chao." Zhao Yun nods. "Here's my plan. We'll ignore the camp which lies just before us here, and sneak around the forest, up to those camps that stored the siege weapons beyond the river down south. If our surprise attack succeed, like master Ma Chao just said, we will be able to take those siege weapons for ourselves, and we will be able to drive off the demons using those siege weapons."

"Well, a surprise attack sounds good, master Zhao Yun." Ma Dai scratches his head. "But I think you should take a look at our number again. If we make a surprise attack, sure we can confuse them for a moment, but with just a small group, the confusion won't last long. And then when they snapped out of the confusion, reinforcements from other camps will immediately head to the camps with siege weapons. And when that happens, we're finished."

"Hmn... You does have a point." Zhao Yun frowns.

"Then how about we make a diversion?" Deng Ai speaks up.

"A diversion?" Ma Dai asks Deng Ai. "How is a diversion possible? Like I said, we only have a handful of men here, we barely have enough to make a suprise attack, much less making a diversion."

"No, master Ma Dai." Deng Ai replies. "Allow me to demonstrate my plan. We currently have about 500 men here. We will devide them into two, one main unit and one decoy unit. The decoy unit will only have 50 men and will attack the camp with the arbalests across the river. If we time the attack right, we can confuse the enemy and get a hold of some of the arbalests. Then, even with just 50 men, we can take on the enemy at that camp. After that, the decoy unit will try to lure the enemy way from the other camps from the east. That way, when the main unit makes the surprise attack on the camp with the siege weapons, there won't be any reinforcement coming from other camps."

"Well, that certainly sounds plausible." Ma Chao nods his head.

"But that plan is too risky!" Ma Dai disagrees. "That small group of 50 could be killed before they can do anything, you know?"

"Yes, I won't deny that." Deng Ai nods. "But my plan has a greater success for us to steal the siege weapons. If we can steal the siege weapons fast enough, we can use them to help the decoy unit from across the river."

"Yeah, I understand that. But it'still dangerous no matter what you say. Isn't there any safer way to distract those demons?" Ma Dai asks.

"Then how about using only one man to distract the demons?" Zhao Yun says.

Everyone look at Zhao Yun with wide eyes. It looks like no one can understand what Zhao Yun just said and think that his suggestion is just a joke. But, Zhao Yun just smile and continue to with his suggestion. "Me. I'll attack the camp with the arbalests alone. That way, you won't have to worry about sacrificing 50 men for the decoy unit."

"But... that's just absurds!" Ma Dai yells.

"Did you forget who I am?" Zhao Yun boasts. " I am Zhao Yun of Chang Shan. The man who once came in and out of the middle of the entire Wei's army like walking in and out of his own house. Do you honest think that jusr a small bunch of no good demons like that can cause trouble?"

"No, I do not dare to think so..." Ma Dai apologizes to Zhao Yun.

"Good." Zhao Yun pats Ma Dai's shoulder. "Then it's settled..."

"Wait, master Zhao Yun. If you're going, then I'm going with you too!" Ma Chao says.

"No, master Ma Chao. You are the leader here, if you are to be absent during the surprise attack, do you think our soldiers will be able to make the attack a successful one?" Zhao Yun refuses Ma Chao's help.

"Master Zhao Yun is right." Deng Ai pats on Ma Chao's shoulder. "I know that you'd want to fight along side with master Zhao Yun, but please try to understand."

"Alright..." Ma Chao silently nod.

"Then, master Ma Chao. Let us go tell the troops to prepare to march through the forest immediately." Deng Ai tells Ma Chao, then turns to Zhao Yun and continues. "And master Zhao Yun, please wait until nightfall for the best time to attack, alright?"

Zhao Yun nods.

Ma Chao, Deng Ai and Ma Dai then quickly walk away from the cliff, back to where their troops stationed, leaving Zhao Yun alone on the cliff looking over the demon's camps.

...

Nightfall. It has been hours since Ma Chao's troops left. Now would be a good time to make his attack, Zhao Yun thought.

And so, Zhao Yun stood up. He grip his spear tightly, and swing it around in mid-air rapidly. As he swing the spear faster and faster, the wind start to blow and shakes the leaves on nearby trees, like a sign of a raging storm is coming. Then, he uses all of his strength and plunge his whole body forward to make a spear thrust. The force the thrust made rip the leaves from the tree branches and tear them to shreds before they could reach the ground.

"Good." Zhao Yun smiles. "I'm ready!"

Zhao Yun then lower the spear to ground and whistles. A horse nearby hear Zhao Yun's whistle, and quickly gallop to where Zhao Yun's standing.

Zhao Yun doesn't even wait for the horse to stop. Instead, he hops on to the saddle while the horse continue galloping like an arrow shot straight from an arrow. And with Zhao Yun riding on it, the horse jumps off from the cliff and dash straight torward the demon's camp.

"Beware, you demon curs! I am Zhao Yun of Chang Shan! Those who does not wish to die, step aside!"

Zhao Yun's declaration came like an enormous lightning strikes directly down to the demon's camp. The demons couldn't react quick enough to Zhao Yun's action. Wherever Zhao Yun go to, the demons there are either killed instantly or run away in fear.

Zhao Yun has already dive deep into the very heart of the demon's camp, but the demon still hasn't calm down.

One of the snake general try to step up to Zhao Yun and face him. But before the demon could do anything, Zhao Yun has already have his spear stabbed straight through the demon's throat. Zhao Yun doesn't even break a sweat.

"Another has fallen to my spear!" Shouts Zhao Yun, he then proceed to continue mow down the entire demon's camp.

"Aggghh! The arbalests! Use the arbalests to shoot him down! Quick!" A panic demon shout out to the other demons and quickly run to the arbalest.

"No! You idiot! Don't..." A commander of the demon try to stop the demon, but that demon too, was killed by Zhao Yun before he could finished his sentence.

The panic demon got a hold of one of the arbalest and he try to aim it at the one responsible for the , there's only one man in the middle of countless demons, so instead of shooting at that man, all that panic demon did was shooting at other demons, killing many in the process.

As more demons fall down to the ground, the panic demon get even more panic. An then, that demon snapped, he stopped thinking about aiming, that demon just keep firing the arbalest in all directions in hope to be able take down the man. But by doing so, that panic demon alone has already killed more demons than the man did himself.

And after a while, the demon stop panic. It then stop shooting the arbalest, but it's already too late. The entire demon's camp now only have him as the sole survivor. The demon fall down to its knees and regret over his actions.

"This camp belongs to me now." A voice comes up from behind the demon. The demon turns around, and realize the horrible truth, that he isn't the sole survivor of the camp here. The man who's reponsible for the slaughter of the whole camp is very much alive. And that man is, in fact, standing right in front of the demon, staring straight into the demon's eyes.

For a demon who just try kill the man so badly that he killed an entire camp, the demon is awfully quiet all of the sudden. It's not because the demon suddenly stop wanting to kill the man standing in front of him. It's just that the demon has finally realize that it's futile. Under the rainstorm of arrows fired by the arbalest, an entire camp of demons were killed. And yet, that man is still alive, with not even a single scratch on his body. How do you think that it's possible for a no name demon like himself to be able to lay a hand on that man?

There's nothing more to think about. The only possible choice here is to run away. But will the demon be able to get away? Away from the man that efforlessly killed many others that have skilled far surpassed the demon? The chance is next to zero.

So what should the demon do now? He'll surely be killed if he try to run away. But the demon is even more sure to be killed if he stay. No matter what the demon do, he'll be killed.

But...

"Go..." The man orders the demon.

The demon's shocked. Did the man just tell the demon to "go"? Why did the man tell the demon to "go" when the man obviously could finish the demon any second now if the man so want to. The demon's mind just can't comprehend the man's order to "go".

"Go and tell other camps to send reinforcement here. I'll be waiting."

But as the man continues beyond the mere word "go". The demon has finally been able understand what the man said. But before his mind could completely comprehend what the man said, the demon's body has already moved on its own. The demon run away from camp filled with demon's corpses to other camps east of it. Not noticing that the man is now without the horse he ride with when he began his attack on the camp...

...

On the other hand. To the south of that camp, across the river. Ma Chao's group has finally passed around the forest and sneak up to the camp filled the siege weapons.

"It looks like master Zhao Yun has begun his attack. We should do our job, too." Thought Ma Chao, then he turns torward his troops and shout out loud. "Are you ready, guys?"

"Yeah!" All 500 men respond to Ma Chao in unison, raising their weapons to express that they are more than just ready.

"Alright then! Let's go!" Ma Chao charges out of the forest and straight to the demon's camp, following right after him are Ma Dai, Deng Ai and 500 brave men.

...

* * *

**Ma Chao: Are you ready, guys?**

**Soldiers: Yeah!**

**Ma Chao: Put ya guns on!**

**Soldiers: Yeah!**

**Sanjima: ...**

**Ma Chao: Hey, at least say something, will you?**

**Sanjima: Psst... Why bother with the unfunny joke? Anyway, chapter 9 is finished, please look forward to chapter 10. Thank you very much.**


	10. Chapter 10: The surprise attack

Chapter 10: The surprise attack.

_CLANK!_

The loud sound of swords clashing each other violently echoes through out the camp.

Unti just minutes ago, this camp was as silent as the grave, and most of the demons stationed in this camp were about to go to sleep, and the demons who were assign as guards were yawning out loud from the boredom that the silent brings. But out of nowhere, an army of humans come charging into the demon's camp, killing any who stand in their way.

The demons were caught off guard, so many were killed before they get a chance to do anything. But the demon is still great outnumber the human, so after a couple of minutes of panic, the demons calmed down and started to fight back. The difficult fight for the human only start now.

"You over there!" A commanding demon orders a lesser demon standing near him. "Go find the explosive! Fire it into the sky to signal other camps to send reinforcement! Quick!"

"EEEE! Right away, sir!" The demon bows down to its commander then quickly run away from the fight, to the far northeast side of the camp to find the explosive.

"Like I'd let you do that!" Ma Chao quickly aim at the running demon and throw his spear in that direction. The spear travels through gaps of demons and finally hit the running demon in the back of its head.

Ma Chao got excited because of his successful throw, but then he quickly find himself in a dire situation: He's currently surround by demons with no weapons in hand.

There's nothing to fear, Ma Chao thought. Because he still has his horse with him, and the horse-riding skill of the Ma family is well-known through out the land, you could even say that their horse-riding skill is legendary. So even if he doesn't have any weapons in hands, Ma Chao can still use his horse as his weapon to attack the demons.

Being confident about one's skills is good. But being overconfident is a very bad thing, and it could even get you killed, in fact. And unfortunately, that's what Ma Chao is doing, being overconfident.

_!_

Two arrows came flying through the horse's head and one more went straight to Ma Chao's head. The horse fell down to the ground and die instantly, knocking Ma Chao off of it.

Ma Chao quickly stand back up on his feet. He's not dead yet, he's still alive. Ma Chao glance over the dead horse and another arrow lies on the ground right at his feet, that arrow is the same arrow that was shot at his head, but fortunately the arrow met his helmet and was deflected away. Had Ma Chao not wear his "splendid armor", the arrow would have went straight through his skull and his fate would be the same as the horse. That thought sends shiver down Ma Chao's spine.

"EEEE! I'll make you pay for throwing your spear away, human!" The commanding demon points the head of its spear at Ma Chao, then rushes torward Ma Chao with another small bunch of lesser demons following behind it.

With no weapons in hands, Ma Chao could only rely on his instincts and experiences from all his years of fighting to try to dodge the demon's rapid attacks.

One demon thrust its spear at him, and he would jumps to the side. One demon slash its sword at him, and he would roll backward to avoid it. But eventually, Ma Chao find himself backed into a corner.

"Blast!"

"EEEE! Got nowhere else to run? Then DIE!" The commanding demon charges torward Ma Chao and thrust its spear at Ma Chao's throat. Ma Chao slightly moves to the side the avoid the tip of the spear, he then quickly grabs the demon's spear and try to take it from the demon's hands, but the demon just won't let the spear go.

"Let go!" Ma Chao let go of his right hand from the spear,quickly form a fist and punch right in the center of the demon's face. The demon shakes a little bit, but it still won't let go of the spear.

"You have to do better than that, human." The demon mocks Ma Chao.

"Then how about this?!" Ma Chao withdraw his fist, then plunges his whole body into mid-air, and uses both of his feet to kick the demon right in the center of its face once more. The impact from the kick even breaks the mask that the demon is wearing. But, the demon still hold the spear tightly, refusing to give up.

Seeing their commander struggling against the enemy, the lesser demons immediately rush torward to attack Ma Chao.

"Blast! Let go of the spear already!" Ma Chao angrily kicks the demon once more and uses all of his strength to pull the spear out of the demon's hands. Only then, does the commanding demon let go of the spear and fall down to the ground. Ma Chao grabs the spear tightly and quickly goes into his battle stance to prepare fight off the demons coming his way.

...

!

"Young master! Where are you?" Ma Dai looks around for Ma Chao as he tries his best to keep his men alive, but to no avail.

"Urghh... Just because you're leading the charge doesn't mean you have to charge deep into the enemy's lines and leave your whole army behind!" Ma Dai shakes his head and sighs.

_Thud!_

Three men are sent crashing into Ma Dai by the demons.

"Argh!" Ma Dai groans. "Are... Are you three okay? Uwaa!" More soldiers are sent crashing into Ma Dai.

"Urghh... General Ma, there's just too many of them. I don't think we're going to make it." One of the soldiers says.

"Urgh..." Ma Dai tries to get a hold of himself, and he quickly encourages the soldiers. "Come on. There are far less demons now than when we first begin the attack. If we can hold our a little longer, then we'll surely..."

"EEEEEE!" Ma Dai got interupted by the demon's violent cry. He then looks up and see that Deng Ai is standing in front of him, fighting the demons to protect him and the soldiers.

The demons all charge torward Deng Ai at once. Deng Ai hold out his lance to block their attacks. And when the demons' weapons barely touch the lance, the lance start to spin violently and shakes off all of the demons' weapons, Deng Ai then waves the lance around and send all of the demons flying. The first wave of the demons fall down to the ground, and the next wave instantly charge forward Deng Ai, and another wave quickly follow up, and another wave right after that... But Deng Ai isn't even a bit fazed by that, he just stood there between the demons and Ma Dai, bravely fend off the demon's continous onslaught.

Ma Dai is in awed by the sight. It's just a simple sight of an ordinary man fighting on a battlefield, it's a scene that Ma Dai himself see more than he could remember. But there's something undeniably different about this scene that Ma Dai is seeing. Deng Ai isn't fighting other ordinary men like himself, but he is fighting off hordes of demon. While Ma Dai himself can barely able to get a hold of themselves to fight against the demons, Deng Ai can bravely stand his ground and fight, he can even send the demons flying through the air like it was nothing. Thinking about it, Ma Dai feels ashame of himself.

"Master Ma Dai, are you and the soldiers okay?"

"Ah, oh, yes, we're alright..." Deng Ai's voice brings Ma Dai back to reality. He quickly stand up and also help the other soldiers to get up.

"Then I'm sorry to ask, but can you help me dealing with the demons, please..." Deng Ai asks, without turning to look at Ma Dai.

"Ah, yes right away!" Ma Dai quickly look for his weapon, a paint brush which was imbued with magical energy that allow Ma Dai to bring lives to whatever he draws and he can cause them to explode at will.

The brush is lying on the ground just a little to the right of Ma Dai himself. He must have accidentally dropped it there when he fell earlier, Ma Dai thought. He quickly runs torwards the brush and pick it up. Then, with the brush in hands, he quickly draws to life many great mythical animals like dragons and phoenixes and send them flying torward the demons in all direction. When one animal touches the demon, it automatically explose causing large damage to the demon's side. Ma Dai keep drawing like there's no tomorrow, and more mythical animals keep appearing and exploding. Ma Dai's drawings are doing their jobs so effective that they don't leave anyone else a chance to help fighting the demons. After a long while, Ma Dai get too tired to keep drawing, he falls down to the ground, trying hard to grasps for air, but the number of demon still standing has been decreased tremendously thanks to him.

"Master Ma Dai, I'm speechless. I didn't know you could do that." Deng Ai expresses astonishment torwards Ma Dai's magical drawings.

"Neither did I..." Ma Dai pants heavily.

"What?" Deng Ai, even the soldiers are shocked from hearing it.

"Normally I can only make the drawings to explode into small dots... Honestly, I don't know how did the explosion get so big earlier..." Ma Dai says, still panting heavily. "Sorry, master Deng Ai... But I'm a bit tired..."

"No worry, master Ma Dai. You can rest easy and leave the rest to us." Deng Ai reassures Ma Dai.

"Yeah, that's right! After seeing general Deng and general Ma fighting so valiantly, we are afraid of those demon curs no longer. Just leave everything to us, general Ma!" The soldiers all enthusiatically declare.

"Everyone..."Ma Dai got teary eyes. Earlier today, Ma Dai was so against the surprise attack, because he thought that the soldiers would be too afraid to fight against the demons thus would lead to unavoidable defeat. But seeing everyone acting so bravely, Ma Dai has final realized, that no matter how grim dark life is, he should always look at the positive side of life and live his life to the fullest. This is a simple fact, a simple fact that Ma Dai has long forgotten.

"Hah..." Ma Dai laughs at himself, promising to himself that he will never forget this simple fact of life ever again.

"Sorry to interrupt, but..." A Gyuki, carrying another Dodomeki on its back, suddenly falls down from the sky, smashing the ground, knocking everyone in the area away. "...We are in the middle of battle."

Right after the Gyuki land, the Dodomeki immediately jumps off the Gyuki's back and start to attack the human with inhuman speed.

While the Dodomeki has agility and dexterity that far surpass a normal human and elongated arms to help it to attack multiple targets at once, it lacks the strength needed to properly finish off its target, and the demon refuses to use weapons no matter what. So while the Dodomeki has no trouble attacking the humans, the best it can do is keep attacking the humans, knocking down, not allowing the humans any chance to counterattack.

The Gyuki on the other hand, is polar opposite to the Dodomeki. The Gyuki has tremendous strength that can shakes the very earth, and is armed with a massive club to further its range of attack, but the weakness of the Gyuki is that it is too slow for its gigantic body, thus its attacks can be easily avoided and get counterattacked.

So, to make up their weaknesses, the Gyuki and the Dodomeki team up. With the Dodomeki knocking out the opponents first, then the Gyuki will take the chance to smash that opponent into pieces.

Deng Ai, seeing through the demon's tactic, decide ignore the Dodomeki and charges straight to the Gyuki before the demon has a chance to attack the knocked down humans.

Deng Ai's lance drills a hole in the Gyuki's side. The demon roars from the extreme pain. The demon twirls around, blindly swing its club to escape from Deng Ai's lance. Deng Ai quickly withdraw his lance and hold it vertically to block the Gyuki's swing. He manage to do so, but the impact from the swing made Deng Ai's hands go numb. It takes him seconds before his hands get better. Once his hands get better, Deng Ai immediately charges torward the Gyuki one more time.

The Dodomeki is still going with his attack on the human soldiers, feeling strange how the Gyuki didn't attack the knocked down humans, so it turns its head to look and see Deng Ai attacking the Gyuki. It quickly alter its course and runs back to aid the Gyuki, but several of the human soldiers bravely stand in its way.

"Get our of my way!" The Dodomeki shouts at the human soldiers, then sketches its arms and slap them to the side to make way for it.

"We won't let you move! Not even a single step!" The soldiers cling on to the Dodomeki arms and legs, forcing the Dodomeki down to the ground,

"Let go of me! LET GO!" The Dodomeki shakes off the human soldiers and quickly get up from the ground, but the soldiers still refuse to let the demon go.

While the Dodomeki still struggling to shake off the remaning soldiers from its legs. Some of the other soldiers grab their spears and try to thrust them at the demon from all directions. With its legs being hold by the soldiers on the ground, the Dodomeki can't move itself, so instead of try to dodge the attack, the Dodomeki extend its arms and spins around to knock away the attacking soldiers. Then, after knocking them away, the Dodomeki shorten its arm back to normal length and grab the soldiers clinging to its legs and throw the away one by one.

"EEEEE!" The Dodomeki feels something explode on its back. The Dodomeki tries to touch the place where he feels the explosion, there he feels... itchy and something... sticky and dirty... Ink?

It was Ma Dai who did that explosion to the Dodomeki. Since he has used up too much energy from ealier, he lacks the require energy to create a normal explosion to the Dodomeki, and thus he was only able to make his drawings explode into... ink, the drawings' orginal state.

"Gah... Where did all those big explosion from earlier go?" Ma Dai tries to draw some more, but this time is even worse than the last, he can't even bring the drawings to life, they just turn back into ink and fall down to the ground the moment he finishes.

"It was you who did that?" The Dodomeki sees Ma Dai's attempt to draw. The demon extends its right arm torward Ma Dai, grabs Ma Dai's neck pulls him torward the demon.

"Gah... Urghh... Let... go..." Ma Dai struggles to break free from the Dodomeki's clutch. Even though the Dodomeki isn't exactly strong when compare to Ma Dai himself, but since Ma Dai has become too exhausted from his repeated attempts to draw, Ma Dai's resistance means little to nothing to the Dodomeki,

"Master Ma Dai!" Deng Ai, seeing Ma Dai in danger, quickly withdraw his weapon and rushes to Ma Dai, but got blocked by the giantic Gyuki.

Deng Ai tries to get away from the Gyuki. The Gyuki is slow, that is an undeniable fact, but because it is slow doesn't mean it can't stop an opponent from escaping. With its gigantic body, the Gyuki jumps up in the air and plummets to smash the ground violently sending shockwaves out and hinders Deng Ai.

"General Ma!" The soldiers try to run up to the Dodomeki to help Ma Dai, but all got knocked away by the Dodomeki's left arm.

"Urgh..." Ma Dai's face is starting to change color. If this keep up, he will be choke to death in just a few more seconds...

In just a few more seconds...

A few more seconds...

...

"LET! HIM! GO!"

Like a strike of lightning ripping through the air, a spear came flying through everyone and stuck straight onto the Dodomeki's arm, finally releasing Ma Dai from the Dodomeki's clutch.

"EEEEE!" The Dodomeki falls down to its knee, screaming in agony. "WHO!? WHO DID THAT!?"

"That would be me!" From a dark corner of the camp, filled with corpses of demon, a stalwart man clad in magnificent armor steps out. "Ma Chao the Splendid!"

* * *

**Sanjima: You know. For someone who has so much trouble dealing with demons since his first appearance, you sure know how to make an entrance at the end.**

**Ma Chao: A hero of justice always arrive to save the day in the nick of time!**

**Sanjima: Yeah, right... Why don't you just go and get yourself killed by the demons at the beginning of this chapter? It'll save me a lot of time trying to come up cool lines for you to say.**

**Ma Chao: Well, that is just cruel...**

**Sanjima: Anyway... Chapter 10 wasn't suppose to finished here, but I just spot some mistakes in the last chapter (like how I mistake the balistas as arbalests, sorry about that...), which makes this battle at Tetorigawa longer than it should be, so I'll save the rest for chapter 11. So, please look forward to chapter 11. Thank you very much.**


End file.
